Sonic Adventure: The End
by Ember Rock
Summary: What if Chaos did succeed in the goal that his seemingly stupid master gave to him? Chaos is not going to succeed in this story. But was is success? A goal completed? No, success was knowing that it would be. -AU Sonic Adventure-
1. Prologue

(A/N) I've tried out a different style of writing for SA-TE, more of an analysis than storytelling...be warned...you are about to see the world through my eyes...

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**Sonic Adventure – The End **

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**_THE END – a strange way to start a story don't you think? It signifies a finish, a conclusion, a resolution. But none of these things are to be found at the start of a tale such as this. So now we must think of the other meanings…perhaps a way to show a meaning, a cheap trick invented by brainless idiots to make the story more interesting…but since this meaning cannot be found easily, it shall be told. This is THE END of a story, and the start of an account…an "analysis" of the events that this story is depicting…this story starts at THE END and finishes at the start…and it is THE END of something old, and the start of something new altogether. No resolution shall be found, for, a resolution is not an end but a start. _**

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**Prologue**

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Robotnik shook his head, his mouth the image of smugness and confidence. Words were spoken loudly; there wasn't even an attempt for concealment of them.

'This could be the best plan ever.'

Simple words, so naïve, even dim-witted for a man of his supposed reputation.

'That Sonic won't know what hit him.'

Once again, the words were uneducated and blunt. Confidence and the promise of destruction overruled him.

'Chaos will not fail. I'm sure of it!'

As much as Robotnik was "sure of it", to use such a crude term, he was mistaken. Stupid one might say, or one might even go as far as to call him "cocky", a term usually reserved for the blue hedgehog that was the subject of all this chaos. But nevertheless, no matter how similar he was to the one he vowed to destroy or how interesting that conclusion is, the fact of the matter is that he was wrong. Chaos would fail in the goal that Robotnik originally set out to use him for. And as the speech of such a man continued, ranting and reassuring himself from the pit of doubt that was growing smaller with each statement, it is amazing that we can look back and see how terribly wrong he was.

But what if Chaos did not fail? Sadly, Chaos succeeding is not going to happen this time. Yet, what does one consider a success? A goal completed? As Robotnik would soon come to realise, success was not his goal completed.

Success was knowing that it could be.

_-_

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_thus is the end of a chapter…the start of a beginning…_


	2. Chaos Begins

**Chapter 1 – Chaos Begins**

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If one's eyes were open, and one was prepared for such a thing, they might have noticed a blue hedgehog running next to them. But people's eyes are never open these days, and so the blue hedgehog went unnoticed. This was most likely a good thing, as a blue hedgehog running at supersonic speeds through a city square was certainly to arouse panic or suspicion in the citizens. And as the blue hedgehog ran through the city, he pondered this very thought, but it was soon forgotten. His arrogant, insensitive attitude towards life was as prominent as always and a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. A gentle but powerful wind rushed through the hedgehog's quills, cooling down him down. The hedgehog turned, and made a sharp turn as to correct his course, even though he had no route planned…but the hedgehog's personality was as so.

The day would have gone without event, until the hedgehog's nemesis showed up. It was thanks to the human in question's proud and egotistical manner that the cerulean one could be notified of the human's next plan to dominate the world and ruin the attempt, as the hedgehog could always rely on his nemesis' unfavourable act of gloating. The unmistakeable sound of rubber forcefully applied to pavement was heard, and several bystanders' heads turned towards the source of the noise, some wrinkling their noses at the pungent smell. The hedgehog looked around, savouring the sparkle of the sun reflected in the sea. The boats sitting at the port were new and clean, and the small harbour-side café made a cheerful backdrop of chairs, tables, and occasionally some people. The streets, while bare and deserted of civilians and their vehicles, seemed full of life as if happiness and contentedness emanated from them, and the hedgehog felt at home – surrounded by his favourite feeling. The hedgehog's attention was then drawn away from the surroundings, and to the small craft floating overhead. The port's sense of joy and pleasure vanished, only to be replaced by an air that made the harbour feel lifeless and menacing. Hatred and disappointment rose within the cerulean hedgehog's body as words made themselves clear.

'Sonic the Hedgehog, the time has come for you to meet your match. Meet Chaos.'

The hedgehog's name was spoken, and a hand instinctively moved to the Chaos Emerald hidden behind his back. His fighting stance was readied, and the arrogance surfaced in the form of a grin that was almost becoming trademark to him.

'Heh! If you think you can stand a chance then you are as stupid as you look!'

While there are many things to say about the sentence issuing from Sonic's mouth like some self-asserted display of victory, the most important thing to say about it is its consequences, in this instance being a scowl from Robotnik. But the smirk ended its short but meaningful reign over Sonic's face when a punch took him to the ground. Sonic looked over his shoulder to the source, finding nothing but a water creature. Instinct told him to attack, but hatred ruled him. Sonic's fighting style was distinctive and not only so but effective as well. Chaos was beaten, but one of his Emeralds was given to it and it transformed. Sonic tried, fruitlessly, to beat the water creature with the same attack style as before, a spindash. If the attack fazed Chaos, he did not show it. Sonic tried again, but Chaos was vastly more powerful. However, Sonic was not known for failure or surrender, and so attacked again with a vicious snarl. The creature recoiled, and Sonic gained confidence, turning and dodging. The creature fled, and Sonic moved in for the final blow. The creature laid still, and Chaos, as he was called, rested on the ground in the form of water droplets. Sonic loomed over it, a triumphant smile plastered across his muzzle. Quills bounced wildly in the wind, and a maniacal glint formed in the hedgehog's eye. Afternoon was setting in and the light cast an eerie shadow over the water droplets. A light flashed, and Chaos was gone.

-

As Sonic now knew, the creature would reach indestructible levels once he had attained all seven Chaos Emeralds. The late afternoon sun streaked the sky with pinks and yellows, illuminating the plain that lay beside him. Forest edged the plain, and mountains stood tall ahead. The hedgehog moved swiftly, but his friends would say slowly. Sonic's friends – they were currently relaxing as he had been, and Sonic had no doubt that Robotnik would target them next. Gloat. That did seem about right, and the hedgehog bit his lip. _Come on, they can take care of themselves. I have to get the emeralds, I have a feeling that "Chaos" will be back. _His goal was one subject to question; to find the Chaos Emeralds before Robotnik did, thus stopping Chaos from becoming too powerful to beat. Turmoil arose in the mind of the hedgehog; the fear was becoming more dominant than the logic. _They can take care of themselves! They'll be fine! _Sonic cried out in frustration, it was as if two sides of his heart were raging a fierce battle inside him. Perhaps what made Sonic a hero made him a bad friend – an overvalued want to save the world. He remembered Tails' recent comments towards him. _You don't care about anyone but yourself, Sonic!_ _So what? You're saying that you care more for some geriatric idiot than you do for me? Or are you just scared that you won't be a hero anymore if you don't save others instead of saving your friends, scared that your façade of selflessness will be broken? __Yes you could! It was a heart attack! Natural! And here was Amy, with a severe case of asthma. What about her life, huh? _

The façade comment hurt the most. Resolve was quite strong in Sonic, and he urged on. Knuckles was at home, and he trusted the red mammal. _He won't let anything happen to Tails. _Sonic rushed through the soft sand, a cloud of dust trailing behind him. He forced the commotion of his thoughts out of his mind and focused on the picturesque surroundings. The sun had almost fully set, sending the sky into a fit of red, pink and orange, flanked by the deepening black. The effect on the sandy plains he was traversing was incredible; the sand was glowing a deep red, and it shimmered whenever the hedgehog disturbed it. He settled down, staring at the stars as if they contained the answers to all his problems with a satiated, warm smile on his face. The mountains cast shadows onto the ground before him, and the greenery on them seemed to balance out the red sand and blue-black night sky perfectly. It was getting colder, and Sonic shivered, crossing his arms and rubbing them viciously. The frigid cold invading his gloves reminded the hedgehog of his destination – the Ice Cap Mountains. They towered over the blue one, like an impenetrable fortress, waiting to ensnare unsuspecting travellers while still holding an intriguing air of mystery and beauty about them. The hedgehog did love travelling, no more thoughts were shed on the matter of his friends, and this was his time now.

The third Chaos Emerald lay ahead, but despite its location being unknown, trial and error had proved that if the hedgehog ran at top speed from place to place with an emerald, the third one would show itself. Occasionally the hedgehog could've sworn he saw the emerald gleam and hear it resonate, but he determined his mind was playing tricks on him. Sonic brought himself back to the present. He pushed himself up, dusting the excess sand off his back. All traces of light were now gone, leaving only the silent cover darkness for the hedgehog to run under. He grinned, and took off. The night was darker than any other night he had seen, in fact the darkest and longest night of winter. It was too dark, for instance, to see a small glimmer of crystalline sparkling in the distance. It was too dark to see the azure hedgehog fall. A cry went unheard save for the surrounding crickets; their chirping ceased as if they were mourning the hedgehog's fall.

The Ice Cap Mountains were known for their extreme temperatures, and it was not unusual for the temperatures reach far below freezing. And on the winter solstice, if one had a thermometer they would have noticed -1 degrees Celsius -and dropping.

_Sonic, Chaos and Ivo Robotnik (copyright) SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS_

_Writing is property of Ember Rock (copyright) 2007_


	3. Touched by Death

**(Credit to D.C.111: Thankyou for your support, i'll try not to make this _too_ confusing., Norick Madcaskgae: I appreciate your help, and believe me, it helped alot!, and Raicho Hachirobei: Your positive comments to not only this story but all of mine are greatly appreciated, and I wish you good fortune and happiness!)**

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**Chapter 2 – Touched by Death**

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Sonic awoke, shivering desperately. Ice glistened around him, and wind howled through the hollow cavern he found himself in. Water was pooling around his feet, and he noticed a chain leading from his left ankle to an embedded loop in the cavern wall. _Just great! How did I even get here?_ He remembered running through the night…something hitting the back of his head hard…and passing out. His head was pounding as if it had been beaten with a club. A voice resounded in the dark cave, and he recognised it through his confusion as Robotnik's.

'How do you feel now, Sonic? Your weakness is water…and even if you could swim I doubt you could hold your breath long enough for your friends to get here,'

The words seemed to slide around the icy cave, echoing and resonating within the icicles hanging from the ceiling. Sonic growled, driving his fist into the floor. The last echoes of the voice faded away altogether, and the whirring of a machine emanated from the right side of the room. Sonic sat, noticing the water pooling more. He guessed he had around three to four hours before the cavern filled up. But there had to be an exit, there just had to be!_ How else could Robotnik have escaped?_

He took a bit of time to observe his surroundings, as Knuckles had taught him. He seemed to be under the Ice Caps, in a large dark cavern that was filled with ice. The moisture on the floor of the cave had frozen, leaving the cold to invade his already numb bones. The hedgehog rubbed his arms fiercely, attempting to fight off the cold's icy grip on him. _If the water doesn't kill me the temperature will; it's gotta be at least four degrees below here._ He looked more closely at the chain around his ankle; it was a simple laser padlock. He plucked a quill from the spines on his head, gazing in wonder at its transparent blue colour. The hedgehog inserted it into the keyhole, and the laser reader's light split through the prism-like quill. The scrambling confused the mechanism, allowing it to unlock. Sonic slipped the chain off his ankle, throwing it against the wall in fury. _How on earth was I so careless as to get myself attacked? And now I'm gonna end up drowned with hypothermia. Just great. _Fear started to set in as the temperature visibly dropped; his breath fluttered to the floor in miniature ice crystals. He gingerly pushed himself to his feet, stumbling and leaning against a wall to steady himself. His head was so painful!

'Ugh…' The cobalt hedgehog started walking off to the right, being careful not to slip on the icy ground. He found a boulder at the end of the cave, and smirked to himself. _I can push one of these away no problem!_ As he neared closer to the stone a rush invaded his ears. The rush of the sea. He placed his fingers onto its slimy surface, slippery from moss and ice. The hedgehog pulled the stone across, wincing as the grating sound made his head throb. Water flooded in from the gap. He hurried to push the stone back, nearly shouting in frustration. _The sea…this place is underground near the sea…_

Fear crept over him, stifling his emotions with a cold hand. He placed his hands to the wall, feeling around the cavern for an exit. It was harder than expected for him as the gloves he was wearing provided little protection against the elements, and his fingers were already numb.

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_Tails' POV_

I can't believe I said that to him. I _shouted_ at him. He's my life, without him I have no home…and I just did that. A voice nags at the back of my head, saying that I was too harsh on him. _He's only doing his job, you realise. _It's not a job! I scrub even more furiously at the dishes. A gruff voice calls out to me from the table.

'Tails, everyone has their fights you know.'

He's kind to me. He knows how I feel…I think. I check my watch – Sonic has been gone for three days…I must have really upset him.

'He's been gone for three days. You don't think-'

'No, Eggman's got nothing to do with it. He's fine. You know how he gets,' the swift reply comes.

Knuckles is pretty confident…but I can't help but thinking that Robotnik has something to do with all this. Yesterday he came around, telling us that he was going to destroy the world…yada, yada…but then he said something strange.

'_You know, your lives depend on him, don't they…you'd better take care of yourselves.'_

As if he cares for us… I'm not sure, but I thought I heard a hint of apology in his voice or something…nah, I'm hearing things. He'll be fine…Knuckles is completely right.

'But…I suppose we'd better go looking for him.'

Like a bucket of water over a flame, the thought of Sonic being safe is gone. He's worried about him…and I am too. If Sonic's taught me anything, it's that you shouldn't deny your heart, and I can't convince myself that he's ok…call it fox's intuition. I throw the cloth down into the water, turning to face Knuckles. He's lightly punching the table. _He does that when he's anxious…_

'Knuckles, I'm not such a kid anymore! I've grown up heaps and I know you're scared. So stop treating me like I'm an _idiot!_' I shout, ears drooping downwards. He looks up at me fiercely, and for a second I could swear that he was gonna kill me.

'Tails – you need to calm down. Now.' His voice is rough, but soothing. This angers me more than anything else.

'Yeah, and you're any better? Sonic could be dead right now, and you want to be calm?' I scream, tears forming in the corners of my eyes. Knuckles loses it, grabbing me forcefully by the arm.

'You bite Sonic's head off, and now mine? What is with you? I'm going to go looking for Sonic then, at least so I can get away from you.'

I make to pull away from him, but he's holding me awfully tight. I'm scared now.

'Knuckles, let go of me.' I'm sure he's going to punch me or something.

'Come on, let's go get the Tornado ready!'

He's let go. I wrench my hand away, and look at him austerely.

'Knuckles, now's not the time to fight…if Sonic's in danger we have to help him. I'm sorry, it's just what if the last thing I said to him was "You're just as bad as Eggman, you know that?", I mean…I'm not like that,'

He takes my hand again.

'You're right. Come on, let's go find him. Didn't he have a Chaos Emerald on him?'

My ears prick up.

'Come on then, to the Tornado!'

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_It's so…so cold…my goosebumps have goosebumps…_

_And I'm scared. The gravity of the matter has set in…no-one knows I'm here…I wonder what it's like to drown? I suppose it's like that time I fell in the water…that was on my first adventure. I've kinda been falling in water all my life…from when I first met Tails, to the Death Egg and going hyper, to meeting the Queen of all Facehuggers…ugh, it's true, before you die your life does flash before your eyes. I never thought it would end like this…I don't really wanna drown to death…I'd rather die saving the world from some unknown force. But certainly not Robotnik trapping me in this cave…I hope I pass out from cold before the water gets me…_

Sonic shook his head. 'There's gotta be a way out of this hellhole, I know there has to be. I've got friends and I'm not going to let them down.' He took off his gloves, immediately regretting it. Sonic put his fingers under his armpits, waiting for them to warm up. 'Now, if there's gonna be a way out it's got to be up.' Feeling returned to his fingers, and he felt around the ceiling, using his Chaos Emerald for light. He noticed a crevice in the roof; perhaps a well-aimed spindash could break the rock. He made to curl into a ball, but slipped on the icy floor, falling flat on his face. Sonic got up again, and more carefully curled up and spun rapidly on the ground, melting the ice. He targeted the crack in the ceiling and shot towards it. The blow glanced off, leaving the hedgehog on the floor again. He looked up automatically, and was pleased to see the crack had widened considerably. The water was sloshing around his calves now, but he was lucky as it soon froze and he stood on top of it. Sonic sat down, resting on his feet to avoid the icy ground. He decided to warm himself up before moving again – the temperature had now reached -8 degrees Celsius if he had known that. He could hear the familiar tune that resonated from the Ice Caps now; he must have been just under them. Sonic remembered with a smile Tails, and his explanation as to why they "sung".

'_Well, Sonic, it's because of the area that the Ice Cap Mountains are situated in. The area is known for its high concentration of Chaos Energy, and the earthquakes that came from this energy resulted in the highest mountains in Mystic Ruins – the Ice Caps. Because of the high Chaos Energy the climate is very wild; in summer the ice can melt which floods the area while in winter the temperatures have been recorded at -43 degrees Celsius. Chaos energy is kinda like electricity in the way that it can be conducted by water. When the Ice Caps melt, the water is infused with this energy and when it freezes again the energy is contained in the ice. If a Chaos Emerald or other source of Chaos Energy is introduced into the mountains, the energy particles will be charged with the Emerald and the ice will vibrate creating sound. Because of the specific frequencies of the Chaos Emeralds, you hear different pitched notes, creating the catchy tune that seems to hang about the Ice Caps. Sonic, are you even listening?'_

The hedgehog smirked; he had fallen asleep half way through Tails' little speech. He charged up again, but this time did not break any rock. Instead he had bounced straight off a metal bed in the rock. _Great, I should have known that the biggest industry from the Ice Caps is the many veins of solid STEEL. _He flopped down against the cold hard ground, wincing at it touching his warmer chest. He looked up at the vein of metal, and his hand turned into a fist.

'I can do this. How many times have I sliced right through metal?'

The hedgehog stood up shakily, and repeated his move. The metal cracked away, and the tune of the Ice Cap Mountains grew stronger. Sonic noticed another overlying sound, and the harmonies clashed violently.

He recognised this sound. He knew it well.

The hedgehog reached into his back spines for the green Chaos Emerald, watching it glow brighter every second, its humming increasing to an unbearable level. He had found another Chaos Emerald. Sonic revved up again, drawing from the emerald's power. He shot towards the steel bed, the whine of the hedgehog's spines cutting through the solid steel piercing the air. Sonic fell back, clutching his head. The vibrations were enough to set it throbbing again, not to mention the sound. As the pain disappeared, he opened his eyes cautiously and straightened out of his defensive position. A light blue emerald lay before him, its glow barely masked by the rock dust covering it.

-

Tails checked his radar once more, looking for any signs of Chaos Energy – hoping to locate Sonic via his emerald.

'Tails, you've done that a million times. He's not here.'

The young kitsune shook his head, pressing the "SCAN" button again.

'I'm sure that the energy from the Ice Caps is messing with the radar. He's probably here, it's just that the level of energy from the mountains is so great that the contrast between them and Sonic's emerald isn't enough for the scanner to detec'

'Tails, enough with the babbling. You don't need to lecture everyone to make yourself seem more superior.' Knuckles snapped. Tails' face heated up with tears.

'_USER: TAILS. SCAN SHOWS HIGH CHAOS ENERGY IN REGION "ICE CAPS". ENERGY CONCENTRATION NOT AT EMERALD DENSITY. ZERO EMERALDS IN REGION "ICE CAPS".'_

The computer's readout went unheard to the hurt vulpine.

'K-Knuckles…you know that's not h-how I feel…' the fox sobbed. Knuckles pushed his hand through the gap in between the seat and the glass cover over the Tornado and rubbed his shoulder.

'I'm sorry; it's just you really - no. It's my fault, I'm just a bit uptight. What were you saying about the Ice Caps?'

Tails smiled, and simplified his explanation.

'The high levels of energy are interfering with the scanner; Sonic's emerald won't pick up compared to the massive energy in the Ice Caps.'

Knuckles frowned. 'Tails, since when did the Ice Caps have more energy than a Chaos Emerald?'

Tails' face lit up. 'You're right! There must be at least one Chaos Emerald in there, transferring its energy to the mountains, and that's why it's not reading as an Emerald. I'll check the energy readings and see what we're dealing with.'

Buttons were pressed, and a dialogue emerged on the screen of the plane.

'It says that there's an energy reading of positive 312 percent. That means that there must be at least three Chaos Emeralds in there – Sonic must have found two already and is going after one in the Ice Cap Mountains!'

'Good kid. I wonder why he's collecting them. Did he say anything to you?' Knuckles asked, withdrawing his hand.

'No, he didn't but it must have something to do with Robotnik! I knew he was in danger!'

Tails went full speed ahead, replotting his course to the Ice Cap Mountains. Knuckles rested in the back seat, crossing his arms behind his head and laying down. Words were exchanged and the fox nodded, more determined than ever to reach the mountains in time.

-

With two emeralds, the hedgehog made light work of the steel. He poked his head through the hole he had made, grateful for the warmth of the emeralds. The light was quite sudden and painful to his eyes which had been darkened for over an hour. He forced his head through the hole, kicking wildly but to no avail. The hole was not wide enough for him to fit through, so he backed out, dropping into knee-deep water. _Darn, this water flow must have a fail safe so if the cave is breached it just pours in!_ It was true; the water was now reaching his waist. Clutching the emeralds tightly, he jumped and spun in the air, and then attacked the hole once more. He jumped out of the cave, landing harshly on the cold floor. He was getting cold again. The hedgehog realised his absence of warmth came from the absence of the Chaos Emeralds in his hand. Without a second thought he jumped back in, splashing into the icy water. It was cold, so, so cold. And it was freezing fast. The liquid was far over his head, and the airspace at the top was running out. He looked for the tell-tale glow of the emeralds, locating them at the bottom of the cavern. He took a deep breath, air ballooning into his cheeks, and dived into the murky waters. The water was not as transparent as he had hoped, and it was not only cold but it stung his eyes. The hedgehog worked fast as the water froze before him, grabbing the emeralds and bobbing like a cork just above the surface. He searched frantically for his hole, throwing the emeralds out. His face was pressed right to the roof, and he took one last breath and surged towards the opening, light shining through his watery prison. A soaked, gloved hand reached up through the hole, but was sucked under as the cracked boulder at the other end of the cave gave way, the current from the increased flow dragging him under the icy water.

-

Knuckles looked around the huge underground space in the base of the Ice Caps, following the fox in front of him. The occasional "beep" that could be heard became more intense, and the silence after each one became shorter.

'Tails? Are you alright down there?' he called. There was no answer, and Knuckles jogged up to him.

'Sonic's around here somewhere. This high concentration of energy is coming from around here.' The fox sighed, head hung low. Knuckles and Tails looked down at the point where the beep ended into a long, continuous tone. The two looked down as could be expected, to see a layer of ice beneath a small hole in the rock. Tails checked his instrument, confusion rising at his perfectly working machine. The continuous resonance still sounded throughout the cavern. It's piercing whine reminded the pair how urgent their mission was. They looked down again, Tails almost hoping to see something different from the ice. He wished that when he directed his sight downward, he would see Sonic sitting down, taking a nap. He was almost right. As he looked down, he saw Sonic's form, lying motionless under the icy prison that contained him.

'Knuckles! Get him out of there!' He cried frantically. The red mammal drew back a fist, and drove it down into the ice. It took two blows to break the surface. The ice crashed away, and revealed the azure hedgehog, his face pale and lips as blue as his fur. Knuckles pulled him out, resting him on the rock.

'He's not breathing! Tails, get over here!' He barked, and the vulpine raced over. He wrenched off the glove that covered the hedgehog's hand and felt his pulse, trying to ignore how icy the flesh was. There wasn't even the slightest movement. Tails' brain kicked into action. He thrust down hard on the hedgehog's stomach two times. Water seeped out of his mouth and Tails repeated the action. He pressed the heel of his hand onto the hedgehog's chest and put the other one over the top of it. Panicking, he compressed three times quickly before giving a breath.

Pressed three times, a breath.

Pressed three times, a breath.

Panic.

Pressed three times, a breath.

And as if a switch had flipped, the hedgehog twitched and leaned over to his side, promptly coughing up the water in his lungs. Tails jumped on him and hugged him lovingly, releasing him soon after. Knuckles heaved a sigh of relief.

'T-thanks…guys…but can I have…something warm…it's so…cold…' the hedgehog gasped. Tails quickly brought him a blanket from his backpack. He smiled gratefully and looked at Tails.

'I'm sorry for shouting at you, Sonic.'

'I'm sorry too. And, really, thanks. How did you find me?' he replied, knowing that the fox would launch into a lengthy explanation, but he didn't mind. If it made Tails happy, he would let him speak. Knuckles walked closer to him. 'You know, he saved your life. Did CPR, or something…I dunno. You oughta do something for him.' Sonic nodded. He pressed himself up against a rock. Just resting. His eyes flickered open and shut as if they were trying to find sight. As the echidna and fox gathered near him, tending to his injuries, an unknown figure entered through the area. Sonic's hands balled into fists as he recognised the enemy.

'Chaos. You guys, get out of here. He's strong.' He snarled. The red echidna shook his head.

'Nu-uh. I'm fighting for you.' He stated calmly. The fox finished tying a bandage around a small cut on his friend's shoulder and turned to face the second figure. 'Eggman.' The word was hissed like the name itself was as much as a symbol of hatred as the owner. As promptly as the man had entered, he exited, waving. 'Have fun.'

The first move that the water creature made was to snatch both of Sonic's emeralds. All of the allies gasped; the move was quite unexpected. Knuckles' mouth formed a snarl and he drove his fist into Chaos. If it had a mouth, it would have smiled but it seemed to emanate smugness. A growl rose in the echidna's throat, and as gullible as he was his renowned battle intelligence formulated a plan. He attacked the core that was embedded in the creature's spine, and smiled as Chaos recoiled. He dove into the ground, punching a groove into the floor, taking advantage of the creature's stun. With one, strong kick, he forced the weakened ground out from under the creature's feet. The mammal brushed a dreadlock out of his eyes, and crossed his arms smugly. The kitsune smiled kindly, muttering his thanks. Knuckles replied with a pat on his back, and they both helped up their downed friend. Tails was the first to speak, saying the words tentatively as not to upset the blue hero. 'What are you going to do now, Sonic? I mean, Chaos has all the emeralds.'

The hedgehog made no reply. Instead, as if some divine force guided him, he began walking to the other end of the cave. His two friends followed, uncertain as to what he was doing. Knuckles opened his mouth to speak, maybe question the hedgehog about his actions but the other next to him conveyed a silent message to be quiet. The hedgehog turned back towards them, a force just as otherworldly as the one leading him allowing his followers to understand. _There's something here._ The sapphire fur brightened with the lighting of the surrounding area: a corner of the cave lit up by a strong purple glow that eerily illuminated the area accompanied by an ethereal resonance. The fourth Chaos Emerald, this one a deep amethyst, had been found. Sonic picked it up delicately, before gripping it in his re-gloved hand. His words were confident and optimistic, and his warmth-filled heart was ready for adventure. 'It's alright, Tails, I've got one, and Chaos has three which means there's still three left!'

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(A/N: I'm really sorry I haven't updated earlier, the next chapter will not take any more than two weeks. You can check the progress of this fanfic and others on my profile where I have up-to date information on them. If you have read this, please review and you will not only recieve a reply/review on one of your fanfictions but recieve a response in-story.)

_Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik, Amy Rose and Chaos are all © (copyright) SEGA._

_Writing is © (copyright) Ember Rock 2007. If used on another website, give aforementioned credit in my profile._


	4. Tropical Minefield

(A/N: Ohmigosh! New chap of SA-TE!! Beyond the Flames will also be updated, I am coming up with a nice long finale to finish the story. I'm sorry this is so overdue, but I don't write unless I'm in the mood for it. I think you all would prefer for me to take longer to upload the chapters but have good quality writing rather than frequently upload and have crappy writing. I was meant to finish this on the weekend but I went over to a friends (played twilight princess...I liked whacking things) and the next day my friend was really upset and half suicidal so I stayed up all night talking to her. And then I was going to upload it earlier today, but my mum convinced me to go for a run around the block, and I _never_ go for a run around the block. She then said to me "Don't you like Sonic? How can you call yourself a fan if you don't want to go for regular runs?", and I couldn't say no to that, could I? Now, one last thing before the fic begins. It helps for us writers to know that someone reads our fanfiction, and I'm putting alot of effort into this, so I need to thank someone for supporting this story and inspiring me to write more; Raicho Hachirobei. Go read her fics right now, she's an excellent writer, better than I am, that's for sure! That's all, and now, on to Chapter Three!)

**Chapter 3 – Tropical Minefield**

**-**

The small fox finished tying the knot on the bandage around his hero's side, looking up with him in an air of apology. 'I-I should have been there.' He sniffed, the words barely whispered. Green fires looked down at him, their intensity softening.

'You did the best you could, and I'm alright! That's what matters, isn't it?' he said, even though the voice that spoke trembled slightly. He ran his hand through the young vulpine's already ruffled fur. He broke away from the hedgehog's touch, shaking his head. 'No – it's not. I'm sorry for shouting at you,' he murmured, a red flush plastered on his cheeks. The hedgehog smiled softly, and stood up, moving his arm a bit to test it out.

'Good as new, Tails!' he called, but the fox was already walking through the cavern. Sonic followed, making sure to recover himself with the blanket. Knuckles slowed down to walk beside him, his hands curled in fists as per normal. The cerulean hedgehog noticed that his ally was speaking. Ears flicked and he listened to the red echidna. 'Are you alright over there?' he spoke quietly, giving his friend a small nudge. The hedgehog replied with a wink.

'O' course!' he assured, looking at the glistening cavern that glowed with the emerald's light.

The echidna looked at the younger male once more. 'I mean…we weren't sure you were going to pull through.' Sonic shook his quilled head, azure fur bathed in the harsh glow.

'Life has to end sometime, and I wouldn't rather it any other way!' His ally nodded, making his trust clear in the form of a pat on the back. Sonic's mouth curled upwards into the beginning of a smile, fighting its way into the world. Sadly, it died in birth as they were distracted by a call from the young vulpine.

'Sonikku!' he called, waving madly. The male in question grinned, saluting the echidna on his way out. He raced towards the fox, the increased light as opposed to the dark caverns hurting his eyes which he screwed tight. Tails rushed to his side. Sonic looked up at him and pushed him away, looking upwards; to the sun. There were on the forested side of the Ice Caps, the late sun shining through their ice causing a pink glow to be cast on the forest. The sky was still light and the afternoon sun set an orange hue alongside the rose. The hedgehog squatted on the mudded ground, shaking his head in disbelief.

'Beautiful, huh? I didn't think I'd see another day like this.'

Tails looked behind him once again. Knuckles was still far away, and so he spoke.

'Sonic, I'm really sorry. I now understand; saving that woman's life was an act of supererogation.' He was interrupted by a small, annoyed call of 'English, please, Tails!' but it went unnoticed. 'I should honour that in you, not discriminate it. I wish I could change what I did…but I can't. All I can do is say sorry. Sorry for ignoring you, not being there…and most of all sorry that if I had spent that little bit longer angry…you would've…you would be…'

The azure hedgehog smiled, nodding softly. _Tails can be such a little kid sometimes…that's why I'm his brother…his mentor. I can't go mad at him like I did before._ 'Tails, we can't change the past. Don't look back, don't ever! As long as you fix your mistakes in the future the past doesn't matter. And if we can't fix the mistakes then why do we worry and just want to change them? If you learn anything from me, learn that. Understand?' His voice was firm, but not harsh. The young fox, understanding and ready to repent, nodded again. The last of the trio caught up with them, placing a comforting hand on Tails' shoulder. Sonic stood up, walking around the outskirts of the forest. His feet softly padded the ground, and a contented smile twitched at his face. 'So, Tails, where did you part the Tornado?' he asked, winking to the young fox.

'I parked it over there, next to that ice shelf.' He answered quickly.

'Okay. Tails, I think I'll fly the Tornado this time.' The young fox was confused at this statement. He had never seen his older friend fly the blue biplane, much less offer to do so. As much as he was embarrassed to admit it, the words that escaped him had to be spoken.

'Can you even fly it?'

Sonic laughed, low and hollow. 'Tails, this plane was once mine, remember?'

The fox chuckled in reply. It was sometimes hard to imagine Sonic with a plane, when he considered the way things were now.

'Of course. Go ahead then, you'll be pleased with the new upgrades I've made.'

Sonic looked at Knuckles, shaking his head and pointing to Tails. 'What did you do?' he asked reluctantly, bracing himself for the inevitable comprehensive essay that would follow. The older male chuckled to himself, replying to the hedgehog's gesture. 'That Tails sure is one to talk on, isn't he?' But his words went unheard to the hedgehog, who was listening and grinning along to Tails' words, all as it should be once more.

- - -

'So then, this thing has a Chaos Emerald scanner?' Sonic asked, struggling with the controls of the plane. It had changed much since his original use, due to the fox's unhealthy habit of tinkering with something as a hobby.

'Yeah! It scans for Chaos Energy.'

'But Chaos Energy is all around us. The Emeralds only amplify it.' Sonic replied, pretending to be far more interested than he felt about the matter, but his morals demanded that he ensure the fox's happiness, and it could come from explaining his little innovations.

'Yes, but this only searches for high quantities of Chaos Energy.'

'But there are other things that have a high concentration of Chaos Energy, take the Ice Caps for example. Or the Master Emerald Shr'

'Sonic, pull right!' The fox yelled, in reference to a mountain right in the way of the plane's flight path.

'Sorry, Tails!'

'Anyways, the scanner only searches for the particular density of the Chaos Emeralds.'

The hedgehog looked out at his older friend on the wing of the plane, who seemed to be paling. It was a necessary task to make sure that the echidna was alright, much to the hedgehog's dismay as he was already finding it hard to pilot the heavily technologically endowed biplane.

'Knux, you alright up there?' Sonic bellowed against the wind. The red mammal nodded, although his muzzle was looking slightly green. Tails turned to Sonic.

'So, what's the reason for the Emerald hunting, anyways? Is it Robotnik? He showed up and said that he was going to take over the world, yada yada, and then he said that we should take care of ourselves because our lives depended on you. I figured you were in danger and came to help you.'

The hedgehog nodded. 'Yeah, he's at it again. This time it's a strange water creature.'

'Water creature?'

'Its body is made out of liquid and it absorbs attacks. The only way you can defeat it is to attack its core, which is solid.' Sonic replied nonchalantly.

'So that's what the creature was that Knuckles fought. So are we going after the Emeralds?'

The hedgehog thought for a moment, his moralistic ideals intertwining with battle-hardened heart and logic to decide that it was too dangerous for the child fox. But then, he knew how his twin-tailed friend loved an adventure and how he would never forgive the sapphire hero if the echidna was permitted to attend and not himself, and decided that he would allow Tails to tag along, as long as he was out of harm's way.

'Sure thing. So I push this button here to scan for emeralds?'

Not waiting for a reply, he depressed the red button below the radar display. Metallic, monotonic and generic, the computer produced its answer.

'_USER: SONIC. SCAN SHOWS HIGH CHAOS ENERGY IN REGION "01024". ENERGY AT EMERALD DENSITY. READINGS AT POSITIVE 102 PERCENT. ONE CHAOS EMERALD IN REGION "01024".'_

It's reply was expected, but appreciated nonetheless as shown by the hedgehog's smirk. His mouth opened again, to question the Tornado further about its rather uninformative and unhelpful readings.

'Tornado, relay all information about region 01024.'

'_REGION "01024". ALSO KNOWN AS "TROPICAL JUNGLE". AREA KNOWN FOR HIGH TEMPERATURES AND IS CLIMATE TYPE 002, RAINFOREST. HIGH HEAT AND LARGE WATER STORES CREATE THE HIGHEST HUMIDITY ANYWHERE ELSE IN MYSTIC RUINS.'_

The hedgehog laughed, turning to his younger friend. 'Looks like I'll be taking a vacation after all. I've wanted to get off Angel Island for some time, and plus, I don't think I'll ever want to see those blasted mountains again.'

- - -

'TAAAIIILLLSS!' Sonic called from the wing of the blue plane, signalling to the small fox.

He caught the sign, and lifted the recently installed glass cover on the Tornado. Sonic

cautiously strided to the body.

'You and Knux wait at the other end of the jungle, and I'll go find the Emerald. I'll meet you there.'

The hedgehog made to jump, his knees slightly bent and face taught in a grimace at the painful landing awaiting him. Tails reached out.

'Wait! Sonic!' he cried desperately, straining to catch the hedgehog before he departed. Sonic looked up, thoroughly annoyed. 'What's wrong, Tails?'

'Why do we have to wait? Why can't we come with you?' the fox asked, disappointed.

'Because we'll need to leave as soon as possible. Haven't you noticed that whenever we find an emerald Chaos shows up to take it from us? We need to get out of here as soon as we find it and go to the next one.'

He nodded, seeing the logic of the blue hedgehog. With a final goodbye and one push of strong, blue legs, the hero launched himself off the edge of the Tornado and into the depths of the leafy palace below.

- - -

Sonic's throbbing heels, gratefully reinforced by his thick socks and shoes, were rubbed a couple of times, cursed at, and finally brought back to the ground. The landing had been harsher than he anticipated, jarring both his hard-to-jarr feet and spraining his near-impossible-to-sprain ankle. He was thankful for the soft ground that cushioned him, and as he rested back on one leg, ready to race into the distance, it caught his trained eye. The floor was mainly of leaves and moss, a couple of stones dotting the green-bathed flooring. The foliage of the flora that was abundant in the dense rainforest gleamed in the soft light, casting a surreal glow onto his feet. Birds constantly twittered, creating a discordant symphony. Water flowed around the area, roaring off falls and nonchalantly streaming around sticks and various ferns. The ground was rather soft, making an uninviting "squelch" sound when stepped on. Nevertheless, the hedgehog shifted his weight to his back foot, before running off at half-speed into the depths of the eerie jungle.

Green flashed by, blending into more green hues and cutting into black water. Soon enough Sonic found himself trying to wade through a small spring, fighting the fast-flowing current. The water reached up to his waist, but thankfully it was warmer than the water that had been in the Ice Caps. He frowned, striding through the water determinedly. As if there was some force, deterring him from his goal and stubbornly trying to ruin his attempts of success, something unseen caused him to trip, falling head first into the raging waters and he was carried away by the powerful current.

Tropical Jungle was known not only for its beauty, but historical ruins and crystal waterfalls. The Crystal Falls provided the citizens that lived nearby the purest water in Mystic Ruins, even in the mossy rainforest it still remained clear. It was these falls that the Purity Spring fed, and these falls that the sodden hero was, unbeknownst to him, headed towards. The second he bobbed up to the surface, and had time to shake the water out of his eyes, he was already falling over the edge, wailing and cursing at the same time. Hitting the water from the height of the falls was just as harsh as hitting concrete, even with the surface tension of the water broken.

Water. Sky. Water. Sky. Sonic was tossed around mercilessly, spinning through the air like some sort of stone on a lake. He broke the surface, immediately forced under again as the waterfall bore down on top of him. All he could see was a maze of bubbles; dancing before him tauntingly. He blindly thrashed in the direction he thought was upwards before grabbing to a piece of debris in desperation, hoping it would carry him upwards. Reaching the surface at last, he took a great gasping breath before being forced under again. _Tails told me that if I have enough air in me I should float on the water. Something to do with my running needing copious amounts of oxygen...big lungs…I hope he's right._

Laborious seconds passed, with each one the hope of survival glowing dimmer. As soon as the rapids above him cleared, though, he bobbed to the surface, spluttering but thoroughly alive. The driftwood he had grasped with powerful fingers tore away from him, but luckily he retrieved it quickly. The current taking him downstream, Sonic decided to ride it out until he got to shallower waters. Thankfully the sun had warmed the water considerably, and it was far more pleasant than he had anticipated.

Soon, the rushing water fazed out to a clear, smoothly flowing stream, and he let the driftwood float away as gravity carried him to solid ground beneath his feet. To his left was a small break in the dense fill of trees, ferns and other tropical flora that hindered his way significantly. He exited the water, shaking his fur dry as would a wet dog. The noise of the rainforest was heightened; he was getting closer to its heart which meant closer to the end of this horror ride. This time around, there were more animals, some exotic and others common. A blue lizard raced around his feet, and the hedgehog removed it from being entwined around his ankle. It sat in the palm of his hand quite calmly, and green eyes blinked in wonder.

'And here I was thinking that I was the only blue guy around! Happy travels!'

With such simple and meaningless greetings, he placed it gently onto a banana leaf, watching it flop down with the blue lizards weight. His internal clock, valued above all other of his talents (obviously apart from his namesake speed) told him that it was time to get moving. He plodded slowly across the delicate carpet of leaves in various stages of decay, until something caught his eye.

-

'Sonic does care about you, you know.'

Well, I certainly could say different.

'Really? I offer to help and he turns me down. Blatantly.'

'Didn't we just _have_ this conversation?'

'Not about this, no! This is totally different.'

A fist is raised against me, before lowered again. If I had my vaporator, I bet you it would record steam coming out of his ears.

'Tails, you seem to be losing faith in him. He knows what he's doing, okay? I'm pretty sure after the Ice Caps he doesn't want to see you in the same situation because of his actions, in this case taking you with him. You're smart. Think logically; put yourself in his sho'

He was cut off at that point from a sharp pain in his chest.

-

Green. It was common here, so one could wonder why the hedgehog looked towards the glow. It was because the glow was familiar, recognised. This glow came from only one thing – a Chaos Emerald. As Sonic moved closer, he shook his head. _That's not the Chaos Emerald…it looks like the Master Emerald. _Sure enough the object before him was a jade green, glowing shard of what could be the Master Emerald.

'But how could anyone have smashed it? Knuckles is the only one powerful enough to do that! But why would he smash it…'

A frown, one that the persistent Amy Rose would call cute, flashed across his cheek. His brow was screwed tight in confusion. _It doesn't matter! Knux and Tails will be at the clearing near the end of this god-forsaken place, so I can tell him about it then. _Taking the sacred shard of gem carefully in both hands, he placed in his back spines. Before he had a chance though, the whole area was surrounded in dense, blinding light. Cautiously, the hedgehog opened one eye.

Fire.

The shrine of the emerald ablaze, embers and smoke turning the sorrowed sky red.

A red-fawn echidna on the ground. Chao.

A water creature at the small chao's feet.

Blood and betrayal had been that night.

-

Knuckles' heart was thumping a rock concert inside him, so much that it hurt.

'I-it's a shard of the Master Emerald!'

The small fox paled in grim reply. 'Noyou don't think that Eggman shattered it?'

It glowed ominously, boding ill. 'I'm afraid so.' He spoke, although slightly softly. As he put it away, for a second he glimpsed something…something strange.

'Tails, did you see that?'

'What?'

'That echidna girl?'

The fox grimaced. 'Sorry, Knuckles, but there are no echidnas left, remember?'

His reply was barely audible, but if heard one could tell that it was full of anguish.

'I know…all too well,'

-

Tails prepared a small meal for his hero – light, healthy and tasty. Using his knowledge of botanics he whipped up some banana leaves stuffed with exotic fruits, before roasting them slightly over a small fire with some honey from the Tornado. Not to mention his favourite snack: celery with peanut butter. Placing the knife down onto his chopping board, he ravenously devoured the food he had made for himself, and swallowing it all in a single gulp. Laying down on the warm, mossy ground, he made himself comfortable before closing his eyes for a short nap. Knuckles sat beside him, perched on a rock. His vacant expression and lack of attention to anything around him could pass for sleep if needed.

Daydreams must be the number one reason of accidents around the world. If you daydream while driving, flying, running or even walking you are likely to crash into something, resulting in a nasty accident. But of course, your daydreaming may not result in _your_ accident, but someone else's instead. But daydreaming was not totally to blame: who could notice a small drop of water amongst all of the other hydrogen oxide lying around? And with the spray from a nearby petite fall, who would notice it landing on the food?

-

_Was she…dead? _Thoughts raced around like atoms bouncing off each other in Sonic's head, the only thing in common with each other being that they all were about the vision. He stopped dead in his tracks, holding the shard as if he was waiting for more of an epic movie. 'Eh, it doesn't matter. I'll figure it out sometime, right?' And with that, he once again resumed his course through the jungle. Scenery flashed by, and this time around he tried to avoid water where possible. Soon enough he reached the clearing where Tails lay asleep, and Knuckles sat as if he was too. Sonic gently nudged both of them. Tails sat up, bleary-eyed but awake.

'Sonic! I got you something to eat,' he called happily, already making his way over to where he had placed the food. Taking it up in a gloved hand, he brought the stuffed banana leaves to Sonic. He screwed up his face in disgust.

'Tails, what on earth _is_ this?'

Big mistake. The fox began to sniffle slightly. 'It's banana leaves stuffed with exotic fruits. Try some, please?'

Sonic nodded, and grudgingly took a bite out of the warm leaf. Strangely enough, it tasted fantastic. 'Tails! Mmph mm mmph!'

'You really think?' Tails questioned.

Soon, all the food was eaten due to Sonic's antagonistic tendency to inhale his meal, narrowly missing inhaling the plate at times. As per normal, he began to feel sleepy after his food, and perched himself onto a half-rotten log. He rested his head on his forearms and laid back.

Sonic fell asleep quite quickly, and very deeply. Tails was the first one to notice the rash creeping up his slightly tanned skin. Knuckles was the first one that he vomited on.

Something profane was shouted.

'Gees, Sonic! Did you have to chuck on ME?'

His reply was another wave of vomit, but thankfully on the ground. 'Guys, I think something I ate did'

This time it was a very unfortunate tarantula.

Tails checked the rash. It was getting bigger and much more noticeable. 'Sonic?' he asked unsteadily. Sonic raised a hand up to him and tried to sit up, but the nausea forced him back down again.

'You don't have allergies or anything…that I know of, and those plants were fine to eat! I checked them with my bacterometer!'

'Tails, I think I'm really si' he tried to cough out, but speaking caused a new wave of sickness afresh. Knuckles glanced at the vulpine.

'I thought I saw like some water go onto the food…maybe it was contaminated or something?'

With his diminishing strength, Sonic breathed one word. 'Chaos.' Tails was mortified.

'Sonic, you've been poisoned! Quick, Knuckles go to the Tornado and pull out my first aid kit. I think I made a flushing chemical for bacteria in case we didn't have food or water and had to use impure sources, we could use it for Sonic!' he shouted, wetting the hedgehog's forehead with a piece of sodden bark. Complying, Knuckles raced off in the direction of the Tornado which was luckily nearby, but far away enough that he still needed to clear his path. Punching obstacles aside, he reached the biplane. He frantically fumbled for the right chemical, before ripping out the whole tray from its niche and returning to Tails and Sonic.

'Tails, which one?' he demanded. The fox swiped a small bottle, filled with clear but viscous liquid. He also picked up a small syringe and poured the fluid into it, and pushed the plunger down to test for air. After deeming it safe, he pressed the point into Sonic's arm, biting his lip slightly at the small amount of blood that slid down his pale skin. _Ahh, I hate blood!_ He pressed the plunger down, releasing the chemical bath into his bloodstream. Sonic twitched slightly, before convulsing and vomiting again.

'Tails, what's happening?' Knuckles asked cautiously, trying to hold Sonic still.

'This stuff isn't medicine. It just gets rid of chemicals that the body finds intolerable, and I suppose Sonic is just getting rid of the chemicals in any way he can. But like I said, it's not medicine. The chloride could kill him, but I don't know what else we can do,' he breathed.

Sonic was convulsing harder now. His eyes were unfocused and glazed, almost as if he were dead already.

'I just hope he's strong enough to deal with the toxins. The hydroxin I have in there, with the chloride is much like bleach, just with antibodies rather than stains or whatever. All we can do is hope. Hope and pray.'

Knuckles held him down further, almost convinced that his spirit had left him and that his strong movements were the work of demons. 'Sonic, speak to me!' he cried urgently, shaking the tanned shoulders.

'K-kn…uc' he replied, although very weak. Another wave of sick came crashing down. Tails wondered briefly if he had anything left in his stomach. 'Sonic, it's all my fault. If I hadn't made the food none of this would ever had happened,'

-

Water was crashing around him, twirling and joining with itself creating sprays and inexplicable designs in the air. Light lazily danced across some of the calmer areas, while in the rough places created dazzling prisms of radiance. In the centre of it was himself, not out of place in the pulchritudinous surroundings; water. This particular water, however, was sentient. Next to it was a video monitor with a familiar insignia engraved on it, much like the figure that was featured on the screen. Doctor Ivo Robotnik was reminiscing on past events, resting back in his chair. His visit to Angel Island was still quite vivid: fresh in the doctor's mind.

_That blasted echidna was sitting there, a small frown poised on his face. Behind him was the target; the Master Emerald. "…he is taking over our world. We shall seal him in the controller…the servers are the seven chaos. Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the chaos…if you wish to unleash such horror then free him, and free his anger with it…"_

_The ballad, he hoped, still remained true. Gullible, the echidna was, beyond anyone's wildest dreams. Therefore when Robotnik threw a rock behind him, the echidna went off to investigate. He crept up to the giant gem, and pressed a button on his dashboard. The result was a large molecular beam, designed to vibrate the atoms of an object with such force that the object shattered. The Master Emerald was made of far stronger stuff, and therefore did not produce too smaller shards. The beam produced enough energy on its own, however, to send the parts flying off to the far corners of the world. _

_Further down in the forest, Knuckles the Echidna decided that the sound came from no immediate threat; he was probably going insane in his isolation. Also deciding that it was time to get off the floating menace of an island, he launched himself off the edge and glided down to land._

Chaos had appeared from the ruins of the emerald, however, and had made Robotnik its master. And so far, his goal to take over the world was going quite well. Chaos had twice succeeded in almost destroying his cerulean nemesis, and was growing stronger with each emerald it found. Yes, things were going well.

Robotnik used the spare time to focus on the waterfall. It made for an excellent soundtrack to his thinking processes.

-

He was shuddering now, uncertain if the weakness had passed. Tails was holding his sweaty shoulder, looking down at his pallid face to search for feelings in his eyes. He could only see fear, and anger. Sonic unsteadily stood up, preparing himself for another episode of sickness. It didn't come, but the effort involved for reliving his stomach contents left him unhealthily shaky and devoid of energy. Tails helped him to the Tornado, Sonic's arm placed around his neck and shoulders. The figure at the biplane was unexpected. It was no other than Chaos. Profanity came out of both older males.

'Come on, you guys, quickly to the plane! Let's out run him!' Tails shouted, trying to open the new glass cover on the Tornado. Knuckles landed a quick punch, but off centre. Chaos recoiled, but did not surrender and instead retaliated.

'C'mon, Tails, let's make this quick!'

'I can't get it open!'

Using some quick thinking, the echidna decided to take matters into his own hands. Dodging Chaos and protecting Sonic and Tails, he used whatever opening in the fighting he could to shatter the protective cover on the Tornado.

'Everybody in!' he bellowed, trying to ward off Chaos for just long enough. Tails pushed the weakened Sonic into the passenger seat, before hopping in himself.

'Knuckles, come on!' he called, pushing various buttons and pulling levers. 'I'm gonna make a forced take off, it'll be hard but I just have to get the engines warmed up!' he shouted over the scream of the newly installed jets. Knuckles nodded, but the distraction caused him to take a heavy punch from Chaos. Using the echidna's stun, he launched a powerful attack.

'Tails, go!' he shouted. 'I'll be FINE!'

Tears streaked down Tails' face. 'No you won't…'

Through the heavy beating he was receiving, he forced a smile. 'Plus, I have Master Emerald pieces to find, now GO!'

Sobbing, he pressed the takeoff button with Sonic's arm cradled around him to support him and then fastened the safety harness around his sweaty body. Tails' cries of sorrow were lost by the wind as they took off.

(A/N: Read and Review, peeps!)


	5. The Beginning of the End

**I have absolutely no excuse for the lateness of this chapter and for leaving this story untouched for almost a year, and I offer my humblest apologies. Please be assured that I WILL finish this fic. **

**Hopefully the length of this installment will make up for the time it took to get here, although I doubt it. Feel free to poke me with a stick until death if it doesn't.

* * *

**

**Chapter 4 – Beginning of the end**

**-**

'So let me get this straight. I got poisoned by Chaos, and then when you guys tried to get me home Chaos showed up and gave Knuckles a good beating. And so he held Chaos off, allowing us to escape but leaving him behind. Am I right?'

Tails nodded. He turned to blankly stare at the wall, tears reddening his face and leaving his eyes bloodshot. Sonic sat up slowly, leaning on his elbows, and reached forward to pat the fox's head.

'He'll be alright,' he said, voice laced with the softness that the kitsune heard so little.

'No he won't. He'll die and it'll be all my fault! And you…and you…' cried Tails, his voice trailing off to a soft whimper. The hedgehog's pats became softer until his hands left Tails' head altogether.

'What if I couldn't save you, Sonic? What then? And it would be all my fault!' he yelled, punching the wall in fury and desperation. While Tails looked at this in the view of Sonic's death being laid on his shoulders, the hedgehog viewed it differently. _What if I hadn't made it? Tails would have to fend for himself, and I can't let that happen. No way,_ he thought, and carefully swung his legs over the side of the bed; a crude setup of a mattress and blankets on the floor of Tails' workshop, situated in Mystic Ruins. He gradually placed weight on his legs, and took three unsteady steps towards the yellow fox. Tails turned to him, a forced, pain-filled smile on his lips.

'You're better,' he breathed. Sonic walked past him, and pressed his face to a window.

'Knuckles said he wanted to look for the Master Emerald shards. Why did he shatter it? He's the only one powerful enough to do it.'

Thoughts echoed in the fox's mind, memories resurfaced.

'He didn't say anything about shattering it; in fact he looked surprised that it had happened,' the vulpine said, brow tight in concentration. Observant, though the fox was, he had still not picked up on anything other than what he had just reiterated to the sapphire hedgehog. Sonic moved back from the window, pulling the shard out of its hiding place.

'Tails, when I touched this I had a vision. There was an echidna girl there, but Knuckles is the last of his kind. So this must have been in the past, or at least that's what I figure.'

The fox sighed, noting this down mentally. He sat Sonic down on the bed, and took the shard from his hand, running over its inconceivably flawless surface.

'You're right. The emerald has been around for hundreds of years, so it's only sensible that this vision was from events sealed in it in the past. Knuckles knows more about the Emeralds and their history with the Guardians, so I suppose we need to ask him about it.'

'Well then, I'll get the Tornado ready. Hey, Tails, do you think you could invent some sort of teleporting device for me?' Sonic said, trying to avoid the decision he would have to give Tails.

'Um, I don't know. Maybe I can utilise Chaos Energy to stop time, since it exists in all timelines interdimensionally, and then you can move to wherever you want to go, and start time, resulting in a teleport? Or maybe since the time and space distortion of Chaos Energy is interconnected I could actually use it to really teleport, although that would drain some of your energy…'

By the time the fox looked up, Sonic had already gone. He raced out to the garage to see Sonic struggling with the complex start mechanisms of the Tornado II prototype, and noticed that he hadn't initiated the energy loop for the Chaos Emerald. There was a basic petrol tank installed in case of an energy failure, but it wouldn't run for long.

'_Sonic_! Wait, you've not started the Chaos Engine!' he cried, and to his relief the engine was turned off. Tails then realised that Sonic had tried to leave without him. The hedgehog answered his unsaid question before the fox had time to react.

'Tails, I'm sorry. But there have been two attempts on my life so far, each one as unpredictable as the next. Meaning that if you had taken the wrong plate of food, you would be the one dead. I can do next to nothing with medicine, and you know that. And while I'm searching for the Emeralds, I won't be around to protect you,' the hedgehog explained, before hopping lightly out of the pilot's seat, and opening the door to the second garage where they kept all their spare parts. He revealed a dulled, scratched and somewhat dinted Tornado I, its body weak from what looked like panel-beating by spindash.

'I've been fixing this up, you know, for old times' sake. You know how I got the Tornado to start with? I found it in a junkyard one day and discovered that it was still fine, but it had been discarded because of its age,' Sonic paused for a wistful sigh. 'Brings back old memories, doesn't it? And after you released this new model prototype when it got a bit banged up, I thought it would be useful to have two planes. I'll call you on the radio when I've found him, and then you can come along. How's that sound?'

Tails thought about sitting in the Tornado I's worn seat, its joysticks and levers in his fingers, red coat of paint shining like it used to. 'Sure,' he nodded, and left the hedgehog to fly off into the rising sun.

-

Sonic touched down, wincing at the buckled armour on the wing, locked in an X-formation for the jet mode. The tracker had led him to Red Canyon, its name taking after Red Mountain on Angel Island for its arid, parched land and rocky cliffs, of which Sonic had run into more than once. The over 300 percent Chaos energy reading in the city next to it suggested that Chaos was near. The hedgehog was not perturbed by this in any way; he would be careful. Making sure to lock the wheels, he took a last reading from the Chaos Emerald radar, and put one foot in front of the other, setting off into places unknown with the promise of adventure.

If someone was standing near, they would have been surprised to hear what would either be classified as fireworks or thunder. They might scream, cover their ears and search for the source of such a racket. But it would be long gone, just a wind blowing up dust in the distance. The noisemaker smirked at the thought of angry bystanders (with the stress of recent events he wouldn't mind someone to argue with) and rushed off, estimating a speed of about eight hundred miles per hour. Launching himself off ramps and peaks, and occasionally resorting to raw speed, he squinted for the tell-tale glow of a Chaos Emerald. Minutes stretched into eternities, and Sonic soon got bored of the rusty canyons and caked ground, dried so hard that even the thickest shoe soles in the world couldn't stop the slight tingle in the hedgehog's feet. Just as he passed another loop in the rock, a shine caught his eye; out of place among the lustreless formations. This time the Emerald was yellow, like the sun that Sonic loved to feel in his fur so much.

As he was admiring it, something suspiciously hard, yet soft, slammed him face-first into a cliff. The Emerald fell to the ground, yet not a scratch flawed its surface. Sonic fell to the floor, and scrabbled for the golden gem. A turquoise tendril consumed it, morphing the creature that it was attached to into Chaos 4. Sonic gasped; without an emerald on him he was done for. _But I'm never gonna give up!_

He aimed a spindash at the water monster, but it backhanded him into the wall again, this time cracking it slightly. Sonic slid down again, reflexes dulled with shock. He muttered something that sounded profane, and attacked again. This time it hit, causing the creature to shriek in agony. He grinned madly, before receiving a sneak attack; forcing him to the ground. A tendril pressed hard into the middle of his back, and two snaked around it to bring his wrists and ankles together behind him, causing him to cry out in pain in a volume that almost matched Chaos'. _Bad move, Sonic, he's madder than ever._ He decided to try a spindash, desperately hoping for no injury in consequence. Chaos was strong, however, and the move sent him flying backwards into Chaos' core, an ironic disadvantage to its strength. The creature melted away into a small puddle in feigned defeat, before flinging the unsuspecting hedgehog towards a rock overhang. It then sent a compacted ball of water into the ledge, cracking the whole section and causing a landslide. Sonic was out cold below, and the sixty-four tonnes of rock landed right on top of him.

-

A trail of red emerged out of the jungle, and into treed hills and swooping valleys. It wavered side to side, as if its owner was heavily drunk, and after that disappearing into the dense trees. At the trail's end was an echidna, deeply unconscious. Blood slowly dripped from a cut on his arm, barely visible against the red fur. There was a small amount of acidic water in it, preventing the natural clotting agents in his blood from working.

He was not unconscious from his injuries, rather from the emerald shard clutched in his hand. Neither was he in the hills, he was on Angel Island over one thousand years ago.

_Knuckles opened his eyes to find one of his kin on the ground, with blue creatures scattered around her. It did certainly appear to be female, with large round eyes and long eyelashes. But then again, he didn't know for sure since he had never seen a female echidna in his life. If this was one, they sure were beautiful. The creatures around her were unlike any he had seen; perhaps hybrids, which were common enough around sapient animals. He then drew his attention to the echidna, who appeared to be unconscious, or worse, dead. He shook her roughly, taking notice of her slender frame and soft fur. She stirred, slowly opening her eyes to show large, bright blue orbs. _

'_C-Chaos…he's attacked…'_

_Knuckles gasped. 'Chaos? What do you know of him?' he demanded, shaking her once more. Tikal blinked._

'_You do not know? He is the guardian god of the Chao. Long ago he placed his power in seven emeralds, with one to control them. The servers are the seven chaos. Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the chaos. The Chaos Emeralds have the power to transform our thoughts into actions. But my father – the leader of our tribe – wants to control this power. He will stop at nothing to get it! But Chaos was angered at the destruction he caused when he finally took them, and now look!' Tikal cried, indicating the blazing shrine. Knuckles nodded, helping her up. 'I must seal Chaos in the Master Emerald, along with his hate and rage, but to do so I must also seal myself. I will not let the same disaster happen again! Guard the emerald with your life, lest Chaos escape and destroy the world with his anger,' Tikal finished, and ran up the stairs to the shattered emerald. Knuckles felt his consciousness fading away, and fought to stay awake. _No! Just a minute more!_ In his fading vision he saw a crystalline monster disappear into the remains of the emerald. The chao at the foot of the shrine revived themselves, and just before he blanked out he saw a large, elderly echidna shout a name. Then the orange lights of the fire blended with the black night, and he awoke to find himself in a slightly forested area with almost no recollection of how he got there._

Knuckles shook his head, and sat up. His head was pounding and he was dangerously dizzy. The world spun round a couple of times before he could stand. He looked at his arm, which was stinging slightly, and noticed the wound there along with its trail. _How on Earth did I get here? _He smacked his head a couple of times, hoping that he would get it to work like he had the TV. Where was Sonic, and Tails? _That's right; they left to get Sonic to safety. And I have to find those shards!_ Making sure to bandage his forearm, he continued to trek up the hill.

-

The first thing that Sonic realised was that it was dark. That was closely followed by the pain, and the fact that he couldn't feel his lower half. Everything hurt as if it had been through the rubbish compactor. He opened his eyes slowly, and saw no light, as expected. There was a large weight on his chest, and he wasn't sure if his ribs were broken or not. _Where am I?_ _I remember fighting Chaos without an emerald, and then he threw me against the wall a couple o' times…then he grabbed me and I spindashed out, thought I beat him and then he threw me into this ledge…and now I'm here. I must've blacked out. _

As his eyes adjusted, he made out one very large boulder on top of his midsection. As much damage as it would most likely have done to him, the boulder also most likely saved the hedgehog's life. It acted as a spacer between him and the next layer of rocks, creating a small cavity where he lay. _If only I'd had the sense to take the emerald _out_ of the Tornado before leaving. _He tried to move, and croakily yelped at the pain of it.

He then decided it was time to assess his injuries before any other action. He started by moving his head; thankfully the movement occurred smoothly and without repercussions. Next he moved his right arm, since his left one was pinned beneath the boulder as well. It seemed to be alright, but his wrist was a bit sore. _Probably a sprain._ He couldn't feel his legs or anything else below his waist, and instead used his eyes to tell if he could move them. He could, just barely, but it caused him more pain than he had ever felt in his life, and far more than he knew could be crammed into one body. _What…what if they never heal…_ He mentally slapped himself; he wasn't immobilised yet. Next he tried to speak, and immediately regretted hearing his own cracked voice. It hurt to speak, and he guessed that a rib had been broken.

_All right, so my legs are most likely broken, _he thought, as much as it scared him to say it. _Now, let's see if I can get out._ Firstly, he slowly manoeuvred his arm out from under the boulder. It seemed pretty unharmed, but he suspected shock was taking care of that. With both hands free, he tried to roll the boulder off of him, but it caused the rocks above him to crumble, and some even fell down on him. _Bad move. Now how am I gonna get out? Blast, if only Tails was here. He would know. And that teleporting would be useful right about now. _He thought about his options for a minute or two, trying not to think about death or paralysation.

_I could spindash through the rock…but with only my head, chest and arms unharmed I'm not sure that's an option. I can't get this boulder off of me without the ceiling caving in, and I'm sure I can't teleport. But...Tails did say something about using Chaos Energy to warp space and time, because the Chaos Emeralds exist in the fourth dimension which means that they are in all timelines. Which should mean that I can use that power to warp the space time continuum. The Chaos Emeralds have the power to transform our thoughts into actions____I really should use my voice. What if I need to call for help? _

Sonic opened his mouth, and said a few words gingerly. It didn't hurt his chest too terribly now that he was used to it.

'If only I could control that power… Chaos energy controlled…would it be a good thing? The power of utilising the emeralds – Chaos Con­­­­­—'

The surroundings changed from a darkened rock prison to the sanguine dust of the canyons. Sonic dropped onto the ground, lying crumpled in a heap. He lifted his head, gasping.

'I-I teleported?' he said to himself, happily noting that the pain associated with speaking lessened the more he used his voice. 'But how? Even if it was the Chaos Emerald's power I don't have one on me! Ah, I shouldn't ask questions I can't answer! A better question, can I do it again? How did I do it?' Sonic screwed up his eyes in concentration. 'Chaos Control!' He opened his eyes cautiously, to see the same backdrop. 'Aw, come on! Chaos control! Chaos Control I said!'

Sonic shook his head, cursing the unreliability of this new power, if it even existed. He was starting to believe that it was a hallucination when he considered the incredulity of a teleport. He rolled over onto his stomach, and cradled his head in both hands.

'Alright, I'm stuck here. So now I have to try and get home,' he thought aloud, and pushed himself up gingerly. Slowly and shudderingly, he crawled towards a rock and gripped it tightly. The hedgehog pushed on the rock to force himself upright, taking most of his weight onto his hands. Gritting his teeth, he took a step forward onto his legs. He shouted aloud with the pain, and as hard as he fought to stay upright they folded out from under him. _Don't tell me I'll have to crawl all the way!_ Sonic thought, hastily moving himself into a better position.

As much as he would like to call for help, his ego prevented him from doing so. Therefore, it was thanks to great luck that a silhouette appeared in the distance of a craft hovering in the air. The hedgehog gasped, sitting up more and looking intently at the shape moving towards him. Light hit the metallic surface of the craft, illuminating not only itself but fear within the cerulean hero. He gritted his teeth, preparing for the worst.

'Well, well, Sonic, I never would have thought I'd see you like this,' a voice from the silhouette said, smugger than it had ever been.

'Back off, Eggman! Leave me alone!' Sonic shouted in reply, growling deep in his throat.

Robotnik set himself down, extending the legs hidden in his hovercraft's underside. He got out, and walked towards the hedgehog.

'You insult me. How could I not help a friend in need?' he laughed, extending his right hand to the hedgehog.

'Leave me the heck _alone_!' Sonic screamed once again, not only enraged but scared. He hated being helpless and unable to defend himself far more than whatever Robotnik would do to him. The man ignored his deafening scream of protest, and grabbed the hedgehog by the wrist. Sonic used this as leverage to punch him clean in the face. Robotnik grunted, raising his free hand to his face in shock, but didn't let go of the hedgehog.

'Now, Sonic, is that any way to treat your rescuer?' he taunted, before yanking the hedgehog up by the wrist, causing him to fall flat on his face with a shout as his legs collapsed.

Robotnik raised one eyebrow, the effect considerably lessened by the fact that he _had_ no eyebrow.

'You've broken both your legs, haven't you,' he said softly. In a moment, his plans for destroying his enemy dissipated into the vast expanses of air in the canyon in something that he refused to recognise as compassion. _I can take him back to the base, fix him up and in return I'll force him to give me the Chaos Emerald! Much better idea!_

'What's it to you, oh dietally challenged one?!' Sonic shouted again, his heartbeat racing.

'One of my favourite quotes goes "If there's something wrong, then those who have the ability to fix it also have the responsibility", and even though I am a doctor of science, I have been through medical school. Since I have some training, I feel that it's my duty to take you back with me,' Robotnik replied, gripping tighter on Sonic's wrist.

'Oh, no! Don't you dare! No! I am _not_ going back with you of all people!' Sonic screamed, his voice starting to crack.

'Sonic, just look at yourself. You are in no position whatsoever to defy my wishes, so I think you _are_ coming back with me,' the villain replied, and pressed a button on a remote in his pocket. The Egg Walker grew to double its size, revealing a back seat. Another button was pressed, and a robot unfolded itself from the underside of the walker. He snapped his fingers and the mecha clunked its way to Sonic, then lifted the hedgehog roughly and deposited him in the vehicle.

Sonic manoeuvred his legs out from under him, and sat up in the seat. Things got worse, as he heard the engine fire. Sonic started to panic as the ground drifted away, the realization hitting him. _My most hated enemy is taking me back to his base, where he's gonna do God knows what to me, and I can't do anything to stop him. How the heck could this get any worse?!_ Trying not to hyperventilate, he closed his eyes and imagined he was in the Tornado, with the comfort and safety of his friends. Then the pain came back, reminding him of the damage to his legs. Curling up as best he could, the hedgehog fought back tears and fell into a fretful sleep.

-

_Sonic won't take me seriously. He doesn't believe I can do anything! Well, I'll prove it to him that I CAN do things by myself! _Tails thought to himself, kicking the table that his breakfast rested on. His workshop was inundated with mess and half-eaten food. In the centre of it rested the Tornado I, its panelling removed and circuitry strewn across the floor. With a few graceful movements of his modified mouse, Tails saved his new programming to disk before lobbing the old monitor against the wall, shortly followed by the hard drive. Screaming in frustration, he slammed the service door of the Tornado shut and wrenched the rollaway door of the garage open, exposing the late afternoon sun to his dilated pupils. He screamed again, swinging his tails furiously at a tree.

'I HATE you! Hear that, you self-centred, dirt eating, snotty little toad, I HATE YOU!' Tails shouted as loud as he could, attacking the tree with all his might. 'And do you know what, you inbred egotistical suck-up, I'm gonna find Knuckles ALL BY MYSELF and then he can KILL YOU for all I care!'

He worked quickly, fuelled by his rage, replacing the old circuits with new ones and repairing the panelling where it had become weak. The fox then climbed into the pilot's seat, and being very careful to take his anger out on the various joysticks and levers, he launched the plane into the azure skies.

Blue, next to green, is one of the most calming colours in the world. But for the fox surrounded by it, it only enraged him further.

-

Sonic awoke, the pain in his legs and chest keeping him from sleeping. He didn't fight it though, as his rest was broken and fearful.

'So then, where are we, or are you too stupid to know?' he asked, putting every ounce of hatred he possessed into his words.

'About twenty clicks away from my airship, the Egg Carrier. I figured letting you see the location of my base was a bad idea. Be grateful I haven't decided to knock you out for the trip,' Robotnik replied, matching Sonic's venom in his speech.

'I'd like to see you try!' the hedgehog retorted.

'And this is coming from the pitiful animal who has been curled up like a child for the past two hours? If I didn't know better, I would say you were scared of me. Disgraceful,' his enemy said, shaking his head. Sonic inwardly cursed himself for showing his fear.

'I doubt that you even have the guts to hurt me.'

'I'm pleased to say that the second we arrive I will personally prove you wrong. I have a nice little laser that I need to test out. Not to mention that the diamond-tipped drills on the Egg Carrier haven't been tried and I'm just itching to use them.'

Once again, Sonic regretted his rebellion. He had almost certainly signed his death warrant. _I'll be fine…I'm strong and I can take whatever happens to me! And Tails is going to come here and he'll punch Eggman so hard that his face ends up on Jupiter! Things will be _just fine. He was disrupted by a jolt, and the sound of the engine powering down. A platform had extended from the largest airborne warship he had ever seen, and Robotnik had landed on the tip of it. The platform then retracted, taking the hedgehog and his captor deep into the belly of the beast.

Lights flickered on, and Sonic saw rooms plated with brushed stainless steel. The futuristic, platinum look was complimented by small status lights blinking, and numerous control centres and intercoms. Robotnik snapped his fingers, and a small but bulky robot clanked into the hangar. It lifted Sonic out of the seat, and held him tight. The hedgehog yelped at the force around his chest, aggravating the already painful injuries.

'Let me go! I don't need your "help"!' he shouted at Robotnik, his voice echoing around the small chamber. The self-proclaimed genius ignored him, and motioned for the mecha to follow him. Robotnik led the robot, and Sonic, through the base until they reached the medical bay, his captive screaming insults the whole way.

'E-116, place the hedgehog there,' he commanded the robot, indicating a hospital-style bed. He closed the door of the room behind him, and then locked it tightly. Sonic, effectively immobilised, settled to making himself as small as possible.

'Now then, to business. Firstly we have to do some assessments, so into the X-ray. I do usually use this for robots, so I can't guarantee your safety,' Robotnik said maliciously, wheeling the bed over to the compact X-ray machine.

'Let me go_ this instant_! You're holding me against my will, damnit!' Sonic shouted again, even though his throat was almost hoarse from his protests.

'And you presume that even though my ventures are always illegal, I will obey the law this time? Hardly,' the doctor replied, setting the machine up. A large bar passed over Sonic, and Robotnik held him still to take an accurate image. The hedgehog continued to struggle, determined to defy his enemy to the end. After the procedure had finished, Robotnik held a printout up to the fluorescent overhead lights, his expression growing darker each second. After studying the X-ray for a couple of minutes, he turned to Sonic.

'I'll give you the news then. You've broken your femur in both legs, heavily bruised your internal organs, fractured two ribs and torn some muscle, but thankfully for you your neck and head are unharmed. What exactly did you do to yourself?' Robotnik asked, turning his head towards the hedgehog.

'Your blasted little pet sent a landslide on top of me! And how the heck can you see bruises on an X-ray?!' Sonic answered, glaring at the doctor.

'This X-ray is also a modified computed axial tomography, which I'm pleased to say uses at the very least an unhealthy amount of radiation. Well, the bruising will take care of itself but if you want to be walking within six months I suggest you let me test a new procedure I pioneered back in medical school.'

Sonic said nothing, unable to believe anything but the fact that if he allowed his nemesis to get anywhere near him on an operating table he would wake up _without_ legs.

Robotnik picked up a large syringe from his array of instruments, before filling it with cloudy liquid. Sonic's eyes widened, realising what he was about to do.

'No…don't you _dare_! I am not going to get poked with a needle filled with whatever you put in there, no _way_!'

'Now, now, Sonic, it's only anaesthetic. If you want me to operate without pain relief then that can be arranged.'

'What I want is for you not to operate at all and _let me go_, you freak!'

He returned to his captive, letting the hedgehog see the needle glinting in the artificial light.

Instinct kicked in. Fight or flight.

And he certainly couldn't run, much less _fly_.

Waiting for his chance, he tried to be docile. His heart hammered against his chest as the syringe drew closer to his vulnerable self. As soon as Robotnik's arm came close enough to him, he wrestled the syringe out of his hand and threw it across the floor. Sonic grabbed the man's wrist, and pulled on it with enough force to turn him around. Then, in one swift move, he brought Robotnik's arm behind his back and twisted.

'Now who needs to let who go?' Sonic spat, triumph resonating with every word. He nodded towards the door. 'Get your robot pal to unlock that.'

'E-116. Command 0122.'

Sonic's eyes widened. _He doesn't use numbers to tell those hunks of junk what to do! _He looked up just in time to see a laser head straight towards him, and in his weakened state he couldn't dodge in time. He fell flat on the hard bedding, and through half-lidded eyes he saw the needle get closer.

'No…please don't…please…' was all Sonic managed to whisper before the needle slid through his skin. As hard as he tried to stay conscious, the drug did its work, sending him into artificial sleep.

-

Skies rushed by in a mass of pink and orange. Some of Tails' anger had dissipated into the early evening air, but he was still furious. Slotting in Sonic's shard of the Master Emerald to the scanner, he programmed the newly-upgraded inbuilt computer to search for the particular frequency. The scanner hummed for a few seconds, and then gave its readout.

'_USER: TAILS. SCAN SHOWS HIGH DENSITY OF MASTER EMERALD ENERGY IN REGION "0948". THREE SHARDS IN REGION "0948". SMALLER DENSITY OF ENERGY SCATTERED AROUND MYSTIC RUINS, ANGEL ISLAND AND STATION SQUARE.'_

This computer didn't have region identification, so Tails had to work it out himself.

'Tornado: voice command. Replot course to Region 0948.'

'_USER: TAILS. VOICE COMMAND DOES NOT RECOGNISE "REGION 0948"._'

_Damnit, _Tails thought, _I must have programmed it to recognise worded regions!_ This time, he tried a different way of saying his command.

'Tornado: voice command. Replot course to highest density of Master Emerald energy.'

The onboard computer hummed, its AI working overtime.

'_USER: TAILS. DEFINE LOCATION OF ENERGY DENSITY INFORMATION.'_

_Aha! Now I'm getting close! _

'Tornado: definition. Energy density information located in scanner readouts.'

'_USER: TAILS. DEFINE COURSE VIA SCANNER READOUTS.'_

'Tornado: definition. The area with the highest density of energy in the readouts is the destination.'

The computer took some time to process this, before beeping twice.

'_USER: TAILS. DESTINATION RESET TO AREA WITH HIGHEST DENSITY OF MASTER EMERALD ENERGY.'_

Tails whooped, punching the air, before sitting back in the seat and relaxing. He had a long trip ahead of him, and not long to get there. That still left too much time to think though. _The second I find Sonic again I swear I will wipe that smile off his face with a laser!_ He tugged his ears in frustration, before taking a few deep breaths to calm himself.

-

Sonic awoke with a start from a nightmare, surprised that he had woken at all. _Just a dream, it was only a dream…_

He fervently hoped that the events prior were also imaginary, but quickly proved that theory wrong when he saw a drip leading out from his arm. Sonic followed the tube back to his elbow, and pulled the needle out with a wince. _So then…what did he do to me? _Drawing his gaze to his legs, he saw that his thighs had twin cuts, one on each. These had healed well, almost unnaturally, and his legs didn't feel too stiff. His chest was still painful, but far less than it had been.

'H-he…lo…?' Sonic whispered, clutching his injured stomach as it tightened when he spoke. Doubling up in the bed, he pressed his back against the wall and pulled the covers around him for some sort of comfort. He felt no safer, since he had no escape from whatever dangers his body would throw at him.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footfalls echoing, and sounding closer than he would like. Almost as if everything was against him, the footsteps got closer and closer, eventually coming to the door. _Please just go away, please! _Sonic watched the handle on the door turn, to show Robotnik walking in. He grinned maliciously when he saw that the hedgehog was awake, and turned to face him.

'Well, Sonic, how are we feeling then?' he asked, with not even a hint of kindness.

'J-just what did you do to me?' Sonic croaked.

'I'm glad to see that you're better,' Robotnik replied sarcastically, before continuing with pride. 'I repaired your legs by placing perforated steel rods between the breaks and grafted some bone over the top. As you've noticed, while your legs will heal rather quickly and without repercussions, but your internal injuries will require some rest. I would say that you could be running again within a week, with your capabilities.'

Sonic was relieved, but still not at ease. He drew the blankets up closer, suddenly feeling exposed.

'W…why? And…at what price?' he dared to ask, glaring at his nemesis.

'To answer both your questions, you now owe me your life.'

He held out the yellow Chaos Emerald, and Sonic snatched it from him quicker than the eye could see.

'Do you swear upon the emeralds that you will repay your debt to me?'

Sonic eyed him, before looking back to the emerald in his hand. Its glow was reassuring, and it gave him strength.

'I…s-swear.'

The emerald glowed brightly, before sending a spark into both Sonic and Robotnik's wrists.

'Now…let me out of here…' Sonic rasped, making sure to keep the emerald clutched in his hand.

Robotnik grinned in success, and said, 'As you wish.' The door to his right opened soundlessly, and Sonic swung his legs over the side of the bed. Placing weight on them, he was pleased to see that he could stand with not too much pain. He took a couple of unsteady steps, before sidestepping Robotnik and walking clumsily out the door. The hedgehog decided to take the path to his left, silently thanking the heavens for his release.

He was taken by complete surprise at the large fist to his back, forcing him to the ground with a loud scream. _Ow…_ Sonic lay on the ground, not wanting to move until the current wave of pain had subsided. _A guard robot, huh? I didn't think it would be that easy._ He pushed himself up, turning to face the robot with fists raised and ready.

'Let's see what you got,' he tried to shout, narrowing his eyes and preparing for a fight. The robot retaliated with another punch, this time knocking the emerald out of his hand. Sonic staggered against the wall, bending over slightly and tasting blood in his mouth. He panted softly, waiting for his chest to stop hurting and the nausea to dissipate. As soon as he could move again, he walked to the end of the passage and hid in a service chute.

-

Tails landed the Tornado in a clearing, before checking his radar. Something was moving towards him, and all signs indicated that it was Knuckles. He felt butterflies rise in his stomach, anxious to see if it would be Knuckles walking towards him or slung over Chaos' back. The bushes ahead of him parted, to show the red echidna trudging towards Tails. He looked up, disbelief clear on his features, before rubbing his eyes and waving.

'Tails! Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?' he chuckled, resting a hand on the Tornado I.

'Ditto. Are you alright?' Tails asked, helping him up into the back seat.

'Yeah, I'm fine. Where's Sonic?' he said, unaware of the ramifications of his querying. Tails growled, his hands clenching into fists.

'Don't wanna talk about it.'

Knuckles scratched his head, his sense of when to keep his mouth shut working overtime. In the end though, the hard work did not pay off.

'What happened?' he asked innocently, remembering the duo's recent fights.

'That's all you ever want from me, isn't it! An explanation! You never even _start_ to consider what I _might be feeling_!' Tails yelled, swinging around to punch Knuckles. He slightly raised his arm to block, before letting the gloved fist hit his face.

'What ever he's done to you Tails, he'll pay for it in blood!' he growled to the fox, who blushed.

'Sorry, Knuckles,' he said, before letting determination cross his face, 'Anyways, lets go teach that stuck up rat a lesson!'

Knuckles nodded. 'Don't worry, Tails, I won't ask what he did. But if he's hurt you, all you need to do is tell me. Just realise that this won't be happening very often.' _This time, Sonic, I won't forgive you_.

-

Tails touched down next to the Tornado II, taking in the parched surroundings.

'Well, Knux, here it is.'

'Yeah, but where's Sonic?' Knuckles asked.

Tails gnashed his teeth. 'You think I know?'

'Sorry, sorry!'

Tails looked around once more. 'We could track him with the Chaos Emerald scanner. He's bound to have taken the emerald with him.'

Knuckles nodded in agreement.

'We'll also leave the Tornado II here, just in case he comes back.'

The echidna opened his mouth to protest about Tails' sudden change of attitude, but he cut him off first.

'Don't you dare go complaining about how a couple of seconds ago I was hating him. I just only want to find him so you can teach him a lesson,' the fox snapped, returning to the red biplane.

Knuckles slammed his fists together. 'With pleasure.'

-

The odd duo was high in the air, currents buffeting them and the wind tearing their voices away. The sun was setting now, and the air was freezing fast, sending a shiver down their spines. The raging orange and red streaks had been replaced by a ginger pink haze, almost demanding an absolution.

'We should be high enough to have a clean signal,' Tails cried over the relentless winds. He pushed a few buttons, before shouting the result to his partner.

'It says that there are four Chaos Emeralds in the same place, but they're in the sky! Flying! It's gotta be Chaos, and where there's Chaos there's Sonic.'

Knuckles screamed his agreement, before adding, 'Let's go to the coordinates!'

It was then that Tails got a signal coming in from the radio.

-

_Service chute, secret entrance to control room, all the same in this place, huh?_ Sonic thought, rubbing his rear as he landed painfully on the control panel floor. He stumbled over to the dashboard, eyes sweeping the various buttons. He finally noticed one label: RADIO. A small smile was forming on his lips as he depressed the button. Quickly composing a message, he sent it on whatever frequency it was programmed to; Sonic didn't really understand the controls. Sonic then walked out through the door, preparing for a run. _I haven't tried this yet, and I need to get to that hangar!_

He rocked on his back leg, experimenting with how it handled his weight, before relaxing slightly and rushing forward. It wasn't anywhere near his normal speed, only a fraction, but a faster pace nonetheless. Soon though, his legs tired and the breaks in them began to burn. He stopped, leaning against the wall and clawing at the bruised muscle of his stomach.

_I can't keep this up for any longer! I have to find a way out before Egghead finds me_, he thought, before walking down the corridor, still panting. Sonic broke through a door and rubbed his now stinging shoulder, before realising that the room he was in _was_ the hangar. The stainless steel gleamed at him, and in the centre was Robotnik's Egg Walker. Sonic strode up to the bay door, heart pounding, and looked for a handle. No such luck; a password-operated lock blinked at him harshly. Wondering whether to punch it in or not, he was tapped on the shoulder. Sonic wheeled with a shout, before leaping backwards at what he saw.

'Did you really think that it would be that easy?' Dr. Eggman said, his voice icy.

'How did you know I would be here?' Sonic demanded in reply, arms spread defensively.

'IQ of 300, remember? It was obvious that you would return to the only place of exit you knew.'

Sonic thought for a second. He had been outsmarted, and very easily. Game over.

'What do you want?'

He grinned manically. 'You should have figured that out by now. Come over here,' he said, holding out his hand. 'I only want a few little tests.'

Sonic crossed his arms, glaring the man down.

'I'd rather die than be here a second longer,' he growled, before unleashing his most powerful spindash on the door. It burst open, and he fell out of the Egg Carrier, sailing through the air with his arms outstretched. If one looked close enough, they would be able to see a peaceful smile on the hedgehog's face.

-

Tails commanded the Tornado to play back the radio transmission.

'_USER: TAILS. SOUND FREQUENCY TOO LOW TO PLAYBACK SPEECH. TONE PLAYBACK SUBSTITUTED._'

A long, very low beep sounded, and Tails swore under his breath. At the end of the transmission, he listened for the details. He requested the Tornado to replot its course to the co-ordinates given, and it complied. Suddenly, a shadow moved over them. Knuckles looked at the sky, before gasping and Tails dittoed his actions. Lazily cruising above them, previously hidden by giant storm clouds and the shrouds of night, was a colossal airborne warship, Eggman's insignia shining on its side. The constant whine of the many jet engines was suddenly apparent. As Tails was admiring the handicraft of the ship, he noticed something break through its side and fall.

'It's Sonic!' Tails cried, pointing at the rapidly falling speck. His partner nodded to him, and they sped downwards into a steep dive.

-

_I'm going to die. I'm actually going to die,_ Sonic thought, falling through the sky at a frightful speed. The ground was getting closer and closer. The hedgehog closed his eyes, pretending he was on a rollercoaster as his stomach threatened to drop out through his feet.

The ground couldn't be much more than sixteen seconds away. He sighed, breaking his own rules and reminiscing on his recent life. Fighting Eggman for the first time, meeting Tails, Knuckles, destroying the Death Egg, discovering his super and hyper forms, meeting Amy…running through places that most people had never seen. Sonic would miss it all. As he closed his eyes for the final time, preparing for impact, an air current buffeted under him as an aircraft zoomed below him, and caught Sonic on the tail, just behind the passenger seats. He landed full-force on his stomach, mouth wide open in a scream of agony that was rendered silent by the wind. He kept his eyes closed, savouring the freezing cold metal against his skin, numbing the pain.

'S-Sonic? Are you OK?' Tails' small voice whimpered from the cockpit.

Sonic didn't answer, concentrating on keeping alive. Knuckles turned towards him, frowning slightly and looking him over before grudgingly extending his hand to grasp Sonic's. The hedgehog's eyes flickered open at this gesture, and he smiled slightly with a nod. Through their combined efforts, Sonic crawled in to the seat next to Knuckles. Tails flicked the plane onto autopilot, and wheeled around to Sonic, his terror at seeing the hedgehog fall replaced with cold fury.

'What the heck did you think you were doing!' Tails screamed, initiating the fight. Sonic was breathing heavily, and looked up at him with half-closed eyes.

'Getting…the e-emeralds…' he whispered, more to himself than Tails.

'You go off and leave me on some joyride, completely forget about Knuckles, then turn up on Eggman's fortress, jump out a window, and I have to save your sorry butt! You're nothing without me and yet you're still acting like you're some super-powerful being!' he shouted at the top of his voice. 'And just look at you! If it wasn't for me you'd be dead so would you at least _pretend_ to think I am what keeps you alive?!'

Sonic was now furious. 'You think I don't care for you? I've broken every bone in my body, survived a landslide, been captured by Egghead, almost killed and had the stuffing slammed outta me by your plane and you think I don't care because I wouldn't let all this happen to_ you_?!' he screamed through his pain, raising his fist to take a swing at the fox. Knuckles hastily leaned to the side.

'_Exactly! You don't think I can do anything so you don't let me come, because you think I'm too weak_!' Tails roared, tears of guilt streaming down his face. But he wasn't going to let Sonic know how he felt.

'No! I just don't want you to get hurt, damnit! You don't have the faintest clue how much I _do_ care for you! You'd be _dead_, Tails!'

Tails' anger returned in a cry of fury and hatred. 'That's my _point_, Sonic! You survived, but you think I'm too weak to! You don't think I'm anywhere near as good as the famous hero, _Sonic the Hedgehog_, but if it wasn't for me you'd be nothing so just _shut up_!'

Sonic fell silent, thinking about what Tails had said. He was at a loss for words, his views of himself broken in one fell swoop. _Do I…do I really doubt Tails that much?_

'Alright!' Sonic shouted, completely broken, 'I'm sorry…'

'W-well,' Tails sobbed, 'Y-you're not f-f-forgiven!'

No more words were spoken until the three arrived at Mystic Ruins.

-

Stars pricked among the blackness of the sky, their glow filtered through the thick clouds. The air carried a chill to it; an icy bite that wouldn't go away. The grass was dull and the ground muddy, lights on the homemade runway devoid of brightness in the hanging mist. Tails touched down, switching off the jet engines and letting the wheels bounce slightly on the ground before braking. The three were cold, and the cold made them lethargic, Sonic especially. His teeth were chattering and the skin on his arms and chest had formed large goosebumps. It was days like this that made him wish he'd taken a blanket with him.

Tails didn't say a word as he helped the hedgehog out of the plane, and even in the lack of light the other two could clearly see despair written across his face. Knuckles didn't want to get involved, and was on neither's side. He was no longer mad at Sonic. This had occurred shortly after picking up what Tails was upset about – he had thought that Sonic had hurt him or worse. He wouldn't put it past the hedgehog with Tails' recent difficulty; a loss of co-operation and a dislike for following others' orders. But he was not on Tails' side, either. Sonic was only trying to keep him out of danger and shouldn't have been harassed about it, especially not with the evident ordeal he had been through.

Sonic broke free of Tails' arms, giving him an apologetic smile in farewell, and limped to the door. He made the trip to the spare room quickly, and sat on his bed, staring at the ugly wounds along his legs. _He's probably done something to make sure I'm disabled for life…_

Then, a rare occasion occurred.

It started with a heat in his face, which spread to his cheeks, and soon to his eyes. Tears streamed down in a thick flow, his face taught in a grimace of pain and sadness. His hands curled into white-knuckled fists, and he clenched his eyes and teeth tightly shut. All the tears he had kept bottled up this last few days came out in a flood. Each sob of despair racked his tired frame, stretching his injured chest. Sonic had lost a friend tonight, and was sure to lose his mobility too, forever. The flow of tears stopped abruptly, leaving a feeling of sheer emptiness where all that he felt was utter despair.

Back in the kitchen, Knuckles and Tails were sitting across from each other, staring at the table and fiddling with the various items on it, the radio on softly beside them. Neither wanted to say a word, but the silence was unnerving.

'How's Sonic?' Knuckles asked flatly. Tails didn't take offence. He turned to look at the spare room, and Knuckles noticed his ear swivel as he listened closely. Soon the fox's expression changed to that of complete bewilderment.

'I-I think he's…crying.'

Knuckles frowned. Sonic the Hedgehog _never_ cried. It wasn't an impossibility for him; occasionally he would get teary…

'…he must have been hurt real bad…' Tails muttered. 'And not just in the physical sense.'

'Maybe we should ask him what happened,' Knuckles suggested equally as quietly. Tails nodded, and they tiptoed over to the closed door, both pressing their heads to the wood to hear better. No sound came, now, apart from the static of the radio.

Tails took a deep breath, grasped the doorhandle, turned, and pushed the door inwards. What greeted him was the most downhearted and broken person he had ever seen. Sonic was sitting diagonally across the bed, bent right over and clutching the quilt. He looked tired, deathly tired, and his eyes never moved even as the fox moved closer. Tails smoothed out the bed next to him, and sat down.

'It's okay…alright…' he cooed, taking his best friend into his arms and giving him a soft hug. 'I forgive you, Sonic, I forgive you.' He didn't know whether Sonic acknowledged this or not, as there was no change in him, but Sonic returned his hug and Tails felt that would do. But he certainly realised that whatever had happened to his friend ran much deeper. They sat there, each grateful for the other's forgiveness. Knuckles just stood, crossing his arms and closing his eyes.

Finally, when he sensed that Sonic was in a state to talk, Tails asked him, 'Sonic…I know you may not want to talk just yet but…can you tell us what's wrong?'

Sonic nodded, taking a deep shuddering breath. 'Well…it all started today…when I was looking for another emerald. Chaos showed up…and beat the heck outta me. Then I woke up…was under a landslide. I…you won't believe this, Tails, teleported or something. But I'd broken a bone or two…I couldn't walk.'

'Then Eggman showed up. He took me to his airship…and he…he…' Sonic trailed off, pointing to his wounds. 'He fixed my legs…but there has to be a price. I just know it.

Tails shook his head. 'I'm so sorry.'

Sonic said nothing, but winked slowly at Tails. The gesture seemed to say, 'I'm alright.'

Knuckles pondered for a second. 'We need to get you to a hospital.'

Sonic shook his head. 'Too weak.'

'Sonic, I can't do much more than a prelim and maybe bandage you up. If you want to find out exactly what he did to you, you'll have to go to the experts,' Tails said, resting his hand on Sonic's shoulder. Sonic sighed brokenly, and allowed the two friends to help him to the Tornado.

Tails started the ignition, but the engine wouldn't kick over. He tried again, flooring the gas, and didn't succeed. Nodding to his passengers to stay put, he jumped out and checked the plane over. The propeller was fine, and so were the jets. He then checked the fuel line, which was fine. Lastly he looked over the engine intake, and immediately saw the problem. The whole back of the plane was blasted beyond recognition. Since the engine intake was only absolutely essential for lift-off, it was obvious that it had occurred as Tails had flown near the Egg Carrier. Tails slumped against the plane, knowing that it was as good as destroyed. The lack of engine intake for the rest of the flight had most likely burned out the motor as well – it was a miracle they had made it to Mystic Ruins.

'Son-ic,' he called. 'Engine intake is down – the plane's pretty much ruined. You're gonna have to wait until we get the Tornado II back.'

The hedgehog looked crestfallen. He had hoped to get to doctors—and morphine—as fast as he could.

'Why don't we just take the train?' Knuckles asked, turning to Tails.

'That could work, if Sonic can walk which I doubt,' the fox replied, turning himself to Sonic, who nodded, and together they started to make their way to the station.

-

Sonic wasn't aware he had fallen asleep or passed out until he became aware of his surroundings, which he soon recognised to be a hospital ward.

'Mr. Sonic? Wake up, please,' a doctor asked urgently yet calmly. Sonic wearily focused his vision on the five humans dressed in white. He blinked, showing recognition, but remained silent.

'We're just going to run a few tests to see how you are, OK?'

Sonic nodded his approval, feeling dizzy and disorientated. The doctor glanced down at a list on his clipboard.

'Alright. Are you in pain?'

Sonic once again gave a small nod.

'Can you tell me where?'

The hedgehog sat up a little, preparing himself to speak. 'My chest hurts, especially when I speak. And…my thighs hurt as well.'

He could almost see how the atmosphere tensed, as if the doctors had suddenly realised who it was that had been hurt, and thought it was best to keep as many of the details as possible concealed.

'Alright, then, we'll try not to make you talk as much as possible. Do you know what happened?'

Sonic blinked again. He was having trouble comprehending what was said, still muddled from sleep.

'Do you know how you were injured?' the doctor repeated.

'Yeah…I fell under a landslide. I think I broke my legs or something…'

'Alright. We're going to test for feeling in your legs to see if you've broken anything major.'

He felt the doctor pinch the skin near his ankle. 'Can you feel that?'

Sonic nodded. The doctor repeated the test in both his legs, before giving the all clear.

'Now, you might have concussion or some other brain injury. Can you answer some questions?'

Sonic took this as a rhetorical question, and didn't answer.

'What day is today?'

Sonic shook his head. He didn't know how long he was out for…but judging by his lethargy he figured he had been away for two days. 'Thursday…maybe.'

The doctor scribbled a note down. 'And your age?'

'Fifteen.'

'Can you follow this dot?' the man asked, pulling out a small pin with a red ball on the top. He moved it side to side and up and down, and Sonic followed it with his eyes.

'Alright. We're going to give you an X-ray, and an MRI scan, and then we'll get you some pain relief and work out what to do.'

Sonic didn't answer, and watched the walls pass by as he was led into the radiology section. The process was over very quickly, the doctors giving him a full body X-ray and MRI scan. The results were far from what they expected.

They kept these to themselves, however, and took Sonic back to the Emergency ward, where he was given a drip and put on pulse, oxygen and blood pressure monitors, but not without protest. Sonic vividly remembered the _last_ time he was poked with a needle.

The doctors explained that they would give him pain relief and an anti-inflammatory to ease his chest, and then, making sure that he stayed alert, talked to him about the scan results.

This time, a female doctor spoke. 'We've taken an X-ray…and had some disturbing results.'

Sonic immediately stiffened, his overactive imagination already expecting something along the lines of his bones disintegrating.

'You have some very impressive broken bones. Both your legs have been snapped clean through…but, to our surprise, these have both been mended with medical technology we have never seen. In fact, even though the breaks are still there, a metal rod has been inserted in between them and is taking the place of the bone. The rod is perforated with many holes, and obviously encourages bone tissue to grow over the rod, and it looks like some form of nanorobot has been placed around the injury to speed up the healing process. This is revolutionary technology and we would like you to tell us who performed these procedures so we can use this technique in mainstream medics.'

Sonic thought quickly, grateful that the drugs they gave him were working. 'I don't remember how it happened…all I can remember is falling under a landslide and then waking up in Tails' plane. He didn't do it because I asked him about it.' He was incredibly relieved that there was no adverse effect to his legs, and asked them about this to make sure.

'No, there should be nothing wrong. Your legs should be healed in a matter of weeks, and we don't foresee any problems with the steel rod staying in your leg until old age.'

She cleared her throat, and continued. 'You also have a minor concussion, probably from the rock fall from what we can tell. It's normal for the symptoms to come into action many hours after the injury in some cases. We'll also want to analyse your blood just to be safe.'

The doctor reached behind her, taking a small syringe and a vial. Sonic looked away as they took his other arm, jumping slightly as the point broke through his skin. It took about thirty seconds to take enough blood, and Sonic was glad when she finally put the blood into a vial and took it away for testing. She went outside, and held the door open for something brightly coloured, which Sonic soon recognised as Knuckles and Tails. He brightened up immediately as they walked in, much to their surprise as they had been expecting the worst.

'Sonic!' Tails cried, running up to the bed and giving the hedgehog a hug. 'I'm so sorry we didn't come sooner! They wouldn't let us in and I kept on _telling _them that I had to see you and—'

Tails was cut off as Sonic shook his head, laughing a little.

'Tails, I'm fine. The doctors said that I'm completely fine.'

Tails stopped, eyes wide in shock, and beckoned for Knuckles to come over. The echidna slowly walked towards them, expression still morose.

'Just tell me,' he said tonelessly, eyes blank.

Tails almost hugged him. 'He's okay, Knuckles, he's okay!'

The echidna's expression didn't change. 'If I understand correctly and there's nothing wrong at all, then we still have cause to worry. Eggman would not help you unless there was something in it for him.'

The newfound relief Sonic had found immediately deflated like a popped balloon. 'You don't think the doctors missed something, do you?'

Knuckles shrugged. 'I have no idea. I was about to ask _you_. Was there anything you missed when you told us what happened?'

Sonic thought hard for a few seconds, and remembered something with a grin. 'Actually, yeah. I asked Eggman why he did it, and he told me that I owed him my life. And so he made me swear on the Chaos Emerald that I would repay the debt.'

Much to Sonic's surprise (he had envisioned that going differently) Knuckles' jaw dropped and terror crossed his face.

'You _what_?!' he bellowed, attracting dirty stares from the other occupants of the ward.

Sonic grinned sheepishly. 'What's wrong with that? I don't even _owe_ him my life, just a couple of mended bones.'

'Actually, you do. There was a very good chance that if he hadn't found you, you would have died. I'm not going to explain that right now,' Knuckles added, with a sideways glance to Tails. 'And secondly, swearing on the emeralds isn't like just promising something. That pact was born from echidna honour as a way of proving your honesty. Anything you swear you will do, the emeralds will _make_ you do. They will ensure that circumstances occur so that you fulfil your debt.'

Sonic dropped the grin in place of bewilderment. 'So, Knux? I save his life! That's not so hard – I just won't kill him.'

The echidna shook his head, and Tails nodded to Sonic.

'He's right, Sonic. There's more to this than you realise,' the fox said softly, turning to the older of the two males.

'You see, it might be as simple as that. Or you might have to sacrifice yourself or something of yours to save him. It could even be as bad as taking a bullet for Eggman,' Knuckles continued, his voice flat. 'And I'll bet that's exactly what he will do – get one of his robots to shoot him so that it's certain you'll die.'

Sonic looked away, mind working furiously. 'I'm not sure about that. If he wanted me dead, then why didn't he kill me earlier?'

Knuckles sighed. 'Do you think I know? Maybe he didn't want to stain his honour by defeating his enemy when helpless.'

The hedgehog sighed long and deep, mirroring Knuckles.

'Is there any way that I can do this without dying?' he asked, voice barely shaking.

'The Emeralds and the Emeralds alone decide how you fulfil your debt or oath. Eggman may try to influence that, but the Emeralds will decide whether to take that opportunity. You just have to hope.'

With those words, Sonic drifted into a sleep he had been missing for two days as the light of dawn streamed through the windows.

**

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Finally, Chapter 4 is complete. Please take two minutes of your time to review.


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